5% More: Making Small Changes to Achieve Extraordinary Results by Alden Michael

Author:Alden, Michael [Alden, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: azw
ISBN: 9781119281863
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2016-07-25T16:00:00+00:00

Section III

Give 5 Percent More to Others

Chapter 9

Give 5 Percent More to the People You Work With

When I was first hired as a lawyer for the company I was working for while in law school, it was my dream job, but it didn't stop me from not just dreaming about but shooting for the moon when it came to my starting salary. I asked for $98,000 a year, which was not completely unreasonable considering the market and where we were geographically located but it was definitely a stretch. It was 2004 and the economy was strong, but the competition was fierce. They ultimately hired me at a starting salary of $65,000 a year.

I was ecstatic to not only get hired but to be getting paid a decent salary. But I quickly discovered that it was not what they were giving me that made me a success, rather it was what I was able to give them. They needed me a whole lot more than I realized. In fact, had I known just how much I probably would have asked for even more than I did!

Before I got hired I knew that the company had some legal challenges, but it was much worse than I had thought. Literally the day I started in 2004, the company was sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC was alleging that the company and its owners were basically criminal charlatans deceiving the American public. The FTC moved to freeze all of the company's assets and force the company into a receivership. They were basically moving to put the company out of business.

As a young lawyer I was petrified! I didn't even have my actual bar card, which is the card that a lawyer shows others to prove he is admitted to practice law. I remember saying to myself, “What did I get myself into?” I was broke but eager to work, and now the company that I took a job from was in imminent danger of being shut down by the federal government. When you have yet to actually practice law, and your first experience is fighting, literally, for your own livelihood and the livelihood of hundreds of people as your first real-world legal experience, the term “being thrown in the fire” is an understatement. I was in legal hell. It did not look good and I vividly remember walking into the CFO's office and asking him to make sure my paycheck—what was probably going to be my only paycheck—got funded. The government moved for an ex parte temporary restraining order. What this means is the government moved essentially in secret without our knowledge. They lost that first round, but we were then given only 10 days to fight for our lives.

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