I’m Worth It
Our value doesn’t come from that next big thing
I stopped working to go to law school, I stopped lawyering to teach (which is to say, facilitate learning while being underpaid and underappreciated). I stopped teaching to write a book. I stopped writing to publicize my book. Sometime in there, I became a consultant, which is to say, a hustler. A hustler of equity programs and fairness workshops. I don’t want to hustle anymore. I feel cheap selling myself; strangely I feel greedy too.
Last week I met with a woman attorney to talk about a presentation on fairness for a conference of white male real estate attorneys. After a long discussion, she told me her budget was….zero. I said I don’t do that anymore. What I meant was I am finished giving myself away. I won’t become valuable when I do that next thing or someday in the future. What I meant was I am valuable. Now.
