Winning has a price

Lessons from MJ the GOAT

I absolutely loved basketball growing up. I still do. Basketball was my first love. And of course, like any other fan of my generation, I loved watching Michael Jordan (the GOAT).

So, in Summer 2020, in the height of the pandemic, I tuned into “The Last Dance,” the docuseries about Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls.

In one of the later episodes, there is a montage of Jordan’s career, with his voiceover explaining what it took to get to the highest level in basketball and addressing the criticism that Jordan was a “tyrant” of a leader in the locker room. This is powerful stuff.

In addition to generally being a bad ass montage (under used since the 80s, in my opinion), how Jordan addresses criticism is profound. In the segment, Jordan states that “winning has a price; leadership has a price.” Jordan describes how he felt fine holding others to a high standard because he held himself to a high standard, had suffered through heartbreaking defeats along the way to greatness, and “never asked anyone to do something he didn’t f*cking do.”

I was speechless when I saw this clip. It embodies everything I’ve thought about litigation firms my entire career. The best trial lawyers I’ve worked with all had something in common - they were more than happy to “jump into the trenches” with associates and do the hard work of gathering evidence, writing motions, prepping witnesses, etc. In my experience, it was those lawyers I worked harder for - they were willing to bleed with me, and as a result, I was willing to bleed with them.

It’s true that winning has a price. In the world of trial work, the price can be staggering. Loss of time with family, growing apart from non-lawyer friends, mental health, physical health, and on and on.

The question becomes for every trial lawyer at some point in their career is what price they are willing to pay and what level of success they are trying to achieve. Of course, we all try to find “balance,“ whatever that is.

So the question is, what price are you willing to pay? What are your goals? What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve those goals? This is an individual and difficult decision for everyone.

The upside is great, but so can be the loss. You have to decide.