JW Way Fundamental #17: Be Relentless about Continuous Improvement"

"Be a lifetime learner and continually invest in your own education, both formally and informally. Be curious and never stop improving your legal, technical, and personal skills. Embrace change. Look for a better way.

This Fundamental recognizes that each of us is imperfect and in a generalized sense that each of us can “get better.” Fulfilling the challenge of this Fundamental is more than just an advancement in knowledge and skills. By creating a culture of continuous improvement and lifetime learning, each individual will grow, learn, and contribute to both their goals and the firm’s goals. By embracing the learning concepts, we can progress towards:

• Being happier and healthier in our relationships
• Living a meaningful life
• Being authentic to ourselves and to others
• Being better lawyers, paralegals, and professionals
• Creating an organization that attracts and retains people who share our goals and aspirations

In our continuous learning culture, each of us recognizes that everyone’s contribution - whether positive or negative - makes a difference. Each of our ideas and thoughts are important. We provide opportunities to share those ideas and thoughts in ways that are constructive.

Our Fundamentals support being a lifetime learner and allow for mistakes (blameless problem solving) and encourage us to embrace change. Indeed, this Fundamental asks us to be curious learners and continually improve, thereby requiring us to change.

We are fortunate to be part of an organization that inspires and encourages us to be fearless and is constructively critical of what we do and what we do not do. In our profession and in our lives, learning is not optional. It is required in order for us to not merely survive but also to thrive. If each of us embraces this Fundamental and meets the challenge of it, we will all thrive together.