Case Studies

Midlife career management; work-life balance; managing stress: juggling new partnership responsibilities, workload and family.

Jeanine was a 35-year-old litigation lawyer at a top-tier law firm, who had just made partner. As a “high potential,” she was expected not only to continue to bill 2,400 hours per year, but also to actively market her own and others’ practices by attending “beauty parades” and entertaining potential clients, and to take on the responsibilities for the firm’s “women initiatives” program which had been rolled out that year. At the same time, Jeanine was planning her wedding, and she and her fiancé had decided to start a family. With so many changes occurring at once, Jeanine was feeling intense pressure and stress, and the strain was having a negative impact on her relationship with her partner — so much so that the couple had begun to question whether or not they should go through with the wedding.

Jeanine’s coach first worked with her on ways to help her deal with her stress. Although Jeanine’s schedule was already over-booked, she added two exercise classes to her list of weekly activities and made her attendance at that class a top priority. She also scheduled into her day three short periods when she could close her door and be alone and quiet. She came to appreciate that, although spending time on these activities seemed counter-intuitive to her initially, she actually became more productive and efficient in her work.

Jeanine’s coach then worked with her to define her core values: Who was she? What was most important to her? What did she aspire to? Jeanine concluded that, while success in her career was important to her, her relationship with her partner and starting a family topped her list at this stage of her life. Having clarified her values, the choices that she had to make were clear. She could cut back on activities that did not align with her values or she could sacrifice her values for her career.

Jeanine worked with her coach to determine the real costs and benefits of different scenarios. At the conclusion of this process, Jeanine made the decision to cut back on the time she spent marketing, and to turn down several assignments. Before setting out on this course, however, Jeanine clearly and authentically articulated her commitment to her firm and her partners, while also setting out her priorities for the next five years. Jeanine expected to run into resistance from her partners as she made these decisions, but what she found instead was that many of them were understanding and sympathetic — and that she could withstand the criticisms of those who did not approve. Several of her partners also expressed appreciation for the role model that she was setting for the young women associates at the firm.