Doughnuts And Careers: in support of the dough

Photo credit: Igor Ovsyannykov

Imagine your legal career is like a jam-filled doughnut.

Your ‘jam’ or other filling is your area of expertise – M&A, capital markets, litigation, intellectual property, real estate, investigations.

You’re always improving the quality of your jam because you want to win the jam contest at the Village Fete.

This year, you might come in 12^th. But next year, you’re going to be no.1!

Add oil, dammit! 

Yet, on your journey to creating the smoothest, silkiest jam, you should never lose sight of improving the dough.

The mixture of this dough, the yeast, the flour, the butter, milk, sugar, salt, and oil, represents your other areas of expertise of being a professional. These include relationship building, team management, understanding accounts and finances, training junior staff, business development and networking. And so on.

With continual improvement and refinement of both the filling and the dough, you will create a recipe worthy of a Michelin star. Or three, for that matter.  

Thus, you might start out in your career with a mini ring doughnut.  You might even start off with just a cup of water, still figuring out what flour and other ingredients to use. With time and effort, you will acquire these ingredients and learn to create your own doughnut.

Eventually, you will be a master of your own doughnut, with the best jam or custard in the village, and a gourmet chocolate coating with hundreds and thousands, and a blob of clotted cream.

Or whatever coating or filling you wish to create.

That’s for you to determine.

Just don’t forget to always improve the quality and texture of your dough.

You can switch the filling at any time, safe in the knowledge that you will always have your dough to make you stand out.

#pimpyourdonut