I’m currently reading a book about Adlerian psychology*. The authors, Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, reformulate the teachings of the great 20th-century psychotherapist Alfred Adler. Adler was a contemporary of Freud and Jung who wrote widely on personality theory. One of the principles examined in this book is Adler’s belief that one should not look at life as a competition. Ironically, as a trial lawyer, I find the concept of a competition-free life liberating. On page 80, the authors observe, “
I really enjoyed this post. The image of a chess game is apt. In chess, there is one winner and one loser (or a draw) and no excuse about why you lost. You're either better or worse than your opponent.
I like chess, but I prefer to play against the computer. I'm getting better and I'm learning new openings, for example, but I'm not crushing someone in competition and I'm not getting crushed.
Competition is our default metaphor for courtroom work. But I find the "lawyer as teacher" metaphor really appealing. Recently, someone asked me, "How do you convince your clients to take good plea deals." My answer was, "If I try to convince them, I lose all influence. They resist me with everything they've got. I have to move away from any adversarial relationship and move to the role of advisor." I may need to replace that with, "teacher."
Very thought provoking. I really appreciate the post.
I really enjoyed this post. The image of a chess game is apt. In chess, there is one winner and one loser (or a draw) and no excuse about why you lost. You're either better or worse than your opponent.
I like chess, but I prefer to play against the computer. I'm getting better and I'm learning new openings, for example, but I'm not crushing someone in competition and I'm not getting crushed.
Competition is our default metaphor for courtroom work. But I find the "lawyer as teacher" metaphor really appealing. Recently, someone asked me, "How do you convince your clients to take good plea deals." My answer was, "If I try to convince them, I lose all influence. They resist me with everything they've got. I have to move away from any adversarial relationship and move to the role of advisor." I may need to replace that with, "teacher."
Very thought provoking. I really appreciate the post.