The people in your circle consciously and subconsciously influence you to change. Therefore, it is crucial to surround yourself with people who can influence positive changes in your personal and professional life.
Second, surrounding yourself with the right people means having champions or people who can vouch for you in their spheres of influence. The right people can be family, friends, mentors, and, if you’re lucky, a co-worker.
Today, in part two of our Life Lessons from Kenya’s First-ever Law Career Fair, we delve into the professional and social benefits of surrounding yourself with the right people. Our panelists on the Diversity of the legal sector share personal experiences on how the right people changed their career trajectory for the better. If you missed part one of this series or are unfamiliar with the panelists, you can read it here.
Lesson 2: Surround yourself with the right people
Besides clarity of purpose, social capital (who you know in the network) is also crucial for exploring and progressing in the legal arena. Patricia Mbugua recommends having champions or people who can advocate for you, particularly in the corporate sector. “Jeff Bezos has popularized the personal branding statement “being what people are saying about you even when you’re not in the room, and that has worked for me.”
Networking can be intimidating for everyone, but moreso for introverts. However, Ms Mbugua highlights that one superpower introverts have in networking sessions is the capacity to have very deliberate conversations/ interactions. Nonetheless, introvert or not, make yourself memorable without a sense of entitlement. That is how you build your social capital.
Having champions that mention your name in rooms is crucial. However, another side to surrounding yourself with the right people is having people who support you when you need it.
“You need to surround yourself with people with whom you can be in a safe space to share some of your struggles, and that is one of the ways mentorship comes in.” Ms. Mbugua highlights an incident whereby she almost quit practicing the law because of a mistake she made at Walker Kontos. “However, I was given the platform and space with a mentor to learn from it.” According to Ms. Mbugua, the concept of intelligent failures, which we’ll explore later, is one of the things you can learn from a mentor.
Mary Njeri’s law career in the humanitarian space is also what it is because she had the right champion in her corner. “A friend of mine told me that they had gotten a job at an NGO but opted out of the offer and referred me instead.” Rispah Simiyu’s journey into the tax world also began when a friend filled out a recruitment form from PWC with her details.
Surrounding yourself with the right people extends beyond the office and professional networks. As Rispah Simiyu points out, having the right people in your personal life helps you achieve more professionally. She highlights instances when she had to balance the demands of her job and raising a young family. “Having the right social network is good because you can always call ahead, and someone will step in.”
Ayieta Lumbasyo adds that as law students and young lawyers, you’ve gotten to a point where you cannot be in spaces where people discuss non-issues. Essentially, evaluate the group dynamics of the spaces you are in and always strive to be around people who inspire you to be better.
