Career Freedom - Career Counseling Connecticut

career change — Time to escape your bad boss?

17 voicemail messages. Many took the full three minutes of message time allotted. I was an associate at a large Washington, DC law firm. All 17 messages were from my “bad boss”, the micromanaging neurotic law partner who oversaw the case.

Most of you can picture trial lawyers from movies and in real life. The good ones create outline areas to question, then listen carefully to the witness, and ask follow up questions. Since I was a former criminal prosecutor in Philadelphia and Washington DC, I had plenty of experience thinking on my feet and coming up with questions in the flow of witness examination. The partner, even though older and more experienced in private practice, did not have as much trial and deposition experience as I did. He wanted a list of every question that could be asked. When I told real trial lawyers, they laughed. But I had a boss and I had to do what the boss said.

Regardless of the merits of his comments, the process was maddening. I had to listen to approximately 50 minutes of voice mail messages, take notes, and then amend accordingly for his second review, which while not quite as painstaking also involved another extensive series of edits, some of which involved my partner editing his earlier edits. If there was a good thing from this episode, it helped prompt me to plan my escape from law.

With great hope, your boss does not micromanage the way mine did. But you can imagine the happiness difference in going from that level of micromanagement to a life without micromanagement. Having autonomy creates work happiness. Contact Career Counseling Connecticut to plot your escape.