Reflections
1st of Muharram or 14th October this year is
the start of the new year of the Islamic calendar. Apart from being a public
holiday, the beginning of the Islamic New Year is very special to me. I started
my own legal practice at this very day three years ago. It’s a symbolic. The
new year of Islamic calendar started at the same date of the holy prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) migration from Mecca to Madinah. In Islam we call it the
HIjrah; the migration physically but also spiritually. Migrating to a better
place. The spread of Islam faced a lot of challenges but at the end perseverance
prevailed and Islam flourished throughout the Arabian lands and whole over the
world.
I started my working career with a conventional finance company. It
was my first taste of corporate world. The first day was bittersweet
experience. Bosses are nice and friendly but I cannot understand a single thing
of banking terms. All terms are mentioned in acronym. I don’t understand corporate
world. I know the law but do not know how to infuse my legal knowledge to
corporate world. Lot of my opinion does not make business sense. That’s when I
decided to pursue my MBA. Hard work and continuous learning makes my life in
corporate world lot easier after that.
My next career was with an investment bank. It is normal course of
career transition; from a conventional bank to investment bank. The pace in
investment bank is very fast and challenging. I observed that companies that
can offer challenges to its employee, these are companies that can attract the
best talent.
Mediocre employee is more comfortable sitting in his/her cubicle at
one corner of the office, hoping that he do not have to communicate to anyone
or do anything outside his comfort zone. A Star employee willing to take risk,
rock the boat, and questioning the norm. The risk with A Star employee is that
they will make mistake here and there. Some companies will punish these A Star
students and forcing them out from the company. The effect is these companies
will keep the mediocre employee in their payroll and these mediocre, well will
reflect the performance of the company in the future; mediocre performance.
After two years with the investment bank I went to an oil and gas
company looking for new challenge. This company has very “cool” policy like
everyone must have a Facebook account defines the culture of this company. It is no surprise because “youngsters” are
running this company. The company looks fresh, and energetic compared to the
conventional bank that I work for before.
The odyssey of my profession took another twist when one of my
former clients asked to join her in a legal firm. I just finish my LLM at the
point of time and looking for fresh challenges. I jumped to the opportunity to
work at a legal firm. Well, I am a lawyer anyway.
Throughout my career, I learned to value relationships. You need to
interact with your colleague, your boss, and your clients. I noticed that most
problems arise due to miscommunication. Most company policies failed because
the bosses failed to communicate the rationale of the policies. We live in the
new millennium and management style of the post merdeka era should be in the
museum together with walkman and “butterfly”.
You can tell lawyers and their conservative dress code, law office
with the sober environment, and typical name card. I believe that a lawyer
should build a relationship with their clients; not only a solicitor-client
relationship, it must be a meaningful relationship apart from contributing to
the betterment of the society.
The money is good, the job is secured but I stayed awake at night
with those burning questions.
Then I decided to open up my own legal firm, with the intention to
make a change, to disrupt the market, to put dent to the universe. I believe
that the main reason for our existence is serve a purpose higher than our selves.
I got to do what I always believe in. I got to do the charities that I want, take
the time to climb the Kinabalu, or having real chat with a stranger at a food
stall. I’m having a life of a person. Do you notice whenever people introduce
themselves by their profession? Well, I can manage to introduce myself as …my
self.
Three years down the road I still persevere with the said idea.
Slowly but surely the idea is gaining traction. I began to meet like-minded
persons who share the same values. It is not sufficient to conduct your
business as usual as it must be something great, something awesome. To create
great thing requires lot of sacrifices, hard word, determination, and
perseverance. I believe that when you work on something great, you must stay
true with your philosophy. I made mistake for deviating from that philosophy in
my early days of my private legal practice. I paid heavy price for those
mistakes, learn from it and change my approach.
It has been blessed three years of my life. I achieve so much both
in my profession and as a person. There is so much to be done, roll up my
sleeves, and try to dent the universe.
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