The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance’s Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.
PAST SPOTLIGHTS
If you are a professional working a flexible schedule and would like to share your story in an upcoming Spotlight on Flex, please contact Jane Caldeira.
Spotlight on Flex – Adie Olson
Our Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.
For November 2018, we are pleased to share insights from Adie Olson, Partner, Quarles & Brady (Chicago, IL).
Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success within your career? How has the firm supported this?
Adie Olson: Law is actually my second career, but my legal career has come full circle with Quarles & Brady. I was a special education teacher and worked with kids with severe emotional and behavioral issues for five years. I loved teaching, but law was always in the back of my mind. I attended Marquette University Law School as an evening student and started as an associate at Quarles & Brady right after graduation in 2003.
I didn’t think I was interested in working at a large law firm, but an adjunct law professor who worked at Quarles, encouraged me to apply for their summer associate program. The firm broke down any stereotypes I had of “big law” at the time; people were really nice, and they had families and lives outside of the office. I knew it was the right place for me, especially as I started my full-time, legal career with them with a six-week old baby at home!
It was pure luck that when I started at Quarles, they were defending a special education class action law suit. I had the substantive background – maybe not the litigation skills (yet) – for a case full of educational acronyms and was able to hit the ground running.
Spotlight on Flex – Mark Miller
Our Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.
For October 2018, we are pleased to share insights from Mark Miller, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright (Houston, TX).
Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success through your schedule?
Mark Miller: I just celebrated my 31st year at the firm doing ERISA work. I’m based in the Houston office, but for the past six years I split part of the month with our New York office. In the fall of 2012, I was billing hour after hour, and while I was driving home one night, the song Behind Blue Eyes came on. I thought. “I just want to pause…” I didn’t want to change jobs or law firms; I just wanted a pause. I always envisioned myself with a one job, one firm legal career; I had great clients, I loved the firm, and I didn’t want to change that.
I wrote a memo to the managing partner explaining how grateful I was to do the work I was doing, how much I loved my job, appreciated my clients, and enjoyed working with my colleagues. But I also explained my intention to take a five month sabbatical (from April to September). I didn’t want to telecommute or go reduced hours; I wanted to see if I could really unplug from big law. I needed more than a vacation, and I didn’t want to quit. It would have been easy to change law firms, but it would have been the same cycle over and over.
Spotlight on Flex – Dr. Cindy Kelley
Most months our Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.
Although we typically highlight an attorney from a member organization, this month we wanted to showcase Dr. Cindy Kelley, Vice President, Medical Education, Summa Health (Akron, OH) one of this year’s Flex Success® Award honorees as she was unable to attend our Annual Conference due to a last minute conflict. Dr. Kelley, along with her co-honoree, Lori Mihalich Levin (Dentons), exemplifies how flexibility works across industries and across client/partner relationships. We are thrilled to share her personal Flex Success® story with you.
Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success with your schedule? How has your organization contributed to this?
Dr. Cindy Kelley: I have learned that with planning ahead and clear communication, a flexible schedule is possible. With four daughters, I’ve realized that one-on-one time with each of them is a rarity but is so important. So, I’ve started blocking the first hour on my Friday schedule so that each week, I can take one of them to breakfast before school and work. Things do come up and we have to be flexible! But I’ve learned that if you don’t at least make a plan, time will pass you by, and you’ll miss these opportunities. My organization contributes to this flexibility by trusting us to get our work done and focusing on outcomes rather than the process. In addition, my boss not only talks about the importance of work-life balance; he lives it. This gives us permission to live it too.