A blog devoted to the actors and public policy issues involved in the 1998 District of Columbia Court of Appeals decision in Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights, an employment discrimination case.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Robert S. Strauss: In His Own Words
I used to envy people who had intellectual interests that I didn't have and who had intellectual competence or academic competence in areas I didn't have. It wasn't until I was much older, in my twenties -- after I got my law degree and was even practicing law -- that I realized that while most of the people that I went through school with could write a better legal brief than I could write, or could draw better documents than I would prepare, but the strange thing was the clients came to me instead of them. I learned along the way that I had judgment, and that I had a certain character and integrity that attracted people. I had a warm personality. I liked people, they liked me. I learned then that instead of sitting around, envying people who had strengths I didn't have, that I ought to play to my own strengths and quit being paranoid about these other people. I used to resent the fact that they could do those things. Later, I came to realize that they had their strengths, which were certainly valuable and of great value to them, but I had strengths that seemed to attract people who not only wanted a lawyer who understood the law, but they wanted someone who had judgment, and who they could trust and who they felt had integrity. Those were my strengths, and I would play to them. So I quit worrying about others and played to my own strengths and didn't worry about my weaknesses. I have had continued success once I came to grips with that, and was at peace with my strengths and not disturbed by my weaknesses.
Oddly enough, I recently wrote in one of my blog posts that in real life one can rely on one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I said:
"Psychological testing differs from real life in that in the testing situation a subject is required to give a response. In real life a person can defer judgment. In other words, in the testing situation a person will necessarily expose his weaknesses. In real life a person can rely on his strengths and avoid his weaknesses.
That reminds me of something Elliott Mincberg, Esq. once said about his friend, Judge David Tatel who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for DC. Mr. Mincberg said: "You would never know he is blind. He functions so effectively in everything he does."
I don't drive. I never got a licence. I would probably make a terrible driver. My spatial intelligence is poor, a fact confirmed by the results of the Performance portion of the Wechsler intelligence test I took in May 1994. So I don't drive. I also don't play chess, another activity that requires spatial intelligence. You would never know how poor my spatial intelligence is.
The same principle holds true in the animal world. Sea lions have poor locomotion on land. But they are excellent swimmers. So they hunt for food in the sea. They don't bother trying to hunt for food on land.
Speaking metaphorically, I love swimming in the sea. -- But then, I always had a problem with metaphors!"