Last night, I spoke with admit to the JD-MBA program. The admit originally contacted me through my website, after which we connected at Northwestern during Admit Weekend.  Yesterday, I chatted with him on the phone to answer a few of his questions about the program, and somehow our planned 20-30 minute conversation went well over an hour. And during the call, we not only discussed factual information about the schools and the program, but I also tried to share more nuanced information that you can’t always pull down from websites or find on forums or newsletters — perspectives of my classmates, opinions from people I’ve recently spoken with, recruiting in today’s market, and other intangible parts of being here.

For many people, I suspect this may have been a bit burdensome. After all, we’re coming up on the end of the semester, and our final Legal Writing (CLR) paper is due in just a couple of days. And for me, that’s in addition to two projects that are due this week and a two day trip I’m taking out of town tomorrow night in the middle of it all. But as we were chatting, those things really didn’t matter.  I spent more time thinking about the fact that I enjoy sharing information with others, especially about the program, and I spent more time reflecting back at how two students (now 3rd year JD-MBAs) spent significant time on my calls and emails a year ago when I was accepted. I’m sure they were busy too, but I never knew. They always talked as long as I needed, which was helpful. And for a second, giving back now felt a bit like quid pro quo.

But not the typical kind of quid pro quo that you might find in a contract where you’re entitled to something in return, or in a negotiation where you analyze the outcome to see who got the best value. Instead I’m thinking about something more generous and altruistic in nature, which probably takes us away from the real “quid pro quo” and more into the realm of paying it forward, or better yet, simply giving or giving back to your community.

Because in the end, most people can’t do everything on their own, we could all use a hand getting there, especially when it comes to more information. I’m sure you can think of a time when you needed a hand (or a piece of information) but didn’t have one. I sure can. But just  imagine. What if everyone did give a hand. And what if everyone openly shared what they knew. Maybe over time, the mentality would be contagious. It could affect everyone around you, maybe even cascade through all your social networks and eventually take off and impact masses and masses of people. I think they call this the network effect. But even if it didn’t, giving back is still more fun and more fulfilling anyways and over time I think it always makes a difference. I’m glad I had the chance to take the call. Hopefully the information was helpful. And hopefully we’ll see him here again next year.

That’s my take on sharing information. What’s your take?

This Friday I finally got a call from an organization I’ve been pretty interested in all year. And it was good news.  Although all of you must be wondering where I’m referring to exactly, I won’t spill the details just yet.  But I will at some point after I officially accept on Monday. Considering that this has been such a tough year for legal recruiting and considering first years rarely get such positions anyways, I’m especially excited and grateful that things worked out. Given the good news, I decided to take Friday off, and I went to a Kellogg mixer on Friday evening and then out for a bit with a couple of JD-MBAs afterward. But unfortunately, I don’t have a whole lot of time to celebrate tonight. So back to work it is.

But stay tuned for more details and for a few posts about recruiting at Northwestern Law. Also, best of luck to everyone still finishing up their search.

Just last week here at Northwestern Law, many of the school’s organizations began sending mass emails to the Listserve. Be on the board of this club, become the president of that club, join our new committee.  These are the slogans that clubs send out, hoping to find a few interested and over-ambitious students to take charge in the club next year.  Because Northwestern  has a diverse set of student clubs, many of them tend to have a pretty big role on campus and in student life. They put on conferences, bring guest speakers to campus, organize panels and networking events, and often join forces with other clubs to come up with events that are bigger or more innovative. And for a club to pull that off, it needs to an organized group of students that want to both plan and execute all those events for the year.

Well, the good news for schools is that there’s never a shortage of students willing to do that. Many students flock at the chance to sign up for leadership roles, both in clubs that are for leisure and in clubs that aim to have impact.  In fact, I’ve even put my name in a for a position or two, including one on the JD-MBA board. I hope I win the vote, because I think I’m a good fit for the role. Similarly, I’ve also done a lot of work already without technically being in the role.  It’ll be interesting to see how the results turn out.

But generally, here’s my opinion on club positions.  If you’re able to get a lead role in an organization, then you should take it. Landing the role will probably earn you at least a little respect from some of your colleagues, it might also give you more self-confidence as you try to make change, and at times it may give you the status you need to make organizing a bit easier.  But at the end of the day, having the title usually doesn’t guarantee any impact.  Instead, what guarantees impact is being able to work with other students and finding a way to achieve results together. Because that’s what adds real value to a club and also to any organization.

There’s an old proverb that says: “A good leader is someone who can motivate his colleagues to get things done without making his teammates feel that it was the leader who actually did the work.” What does that mean? Well to me, it means that the best leaders understand the value of teamwork. That a team working together can accomplish more than the sum of its parts and that the best teams work well together to achieve common objectives. And in the end, everyone’s title really plays less and less a part in that process.

See below for the articles. Two come from the WSJ and one is from Forbes.

1) Wall-Street Journal: One from the Wall Street Journal that talks a little about b-school recruiting. While the article focuses more on business school than law school, the theme of recruiting in our new economy and of getting creative in the recruiting process (both students and recruiters) is applicable to us all. The article also gives a quote from Kellogg’s own Sunil Chopra. Click here to read the article.

2) Forbes: Forbes has a interesting article which relates recruiting to dating and talks about themes “like playing hard to get.” Not everyone may agree with all the tactics/advice, but everyone should find it a pretty interesting.  Click here to read the article.

3) Wall-Street Journal Blog Post: “Laid Off and Looking” —a WSJ blog — has a good post from someone who had been looking for a job for seven months before landing something. He uses his post to share tips for those who are currently looking. Click here to read his post.

Embodied in that collective interest is the idea of diversity.  Today’s leaders are faced with teams that are becoming more and more diverse. Organizations today are geared a more global culture, and incentives demand innovation without regard for geography or background. Many schools and companies have begun accounting for this trend, recognizing the importance of diverse teams and collaboration, but most still have a long way to go.

Here are Northwestern Law diversity is very important. Not only does Northwestern have one of the most geographically diverse student bodies amongst law schools, but it also has “the highest percentage of racially and ethnically diverse students among top law schools and the JD class is split equally between men and women.”

One reflection of the importance Northwestern places on diversity is Diverse Admit Day. Diverse Admit Day is a two-day event for all admitted diverse students to come check out Northwestern Law. The prospective students attending are usually choosing between Northwestern and other top law schools.  This year I happen to know a couple of admits who will be attending. One is a friend from high school in Arizona. He’ll be enrolling in the Accelerated JD (AJD) program.  I met another gentleman from California who said he’s be here this weekend. And finally, I’ve traded a few emails with a fellow MLT alum who was admitted into the JD-MBA program here. He found me on my website and I’ll be chatting with him about the program.

I’m glad Northwestern recognizes how important diversity is to America’s long-term success. It’s now time for other schools and for more business and law firms to do the same.  In one recent example, Apple — arguably America’s premier company today — is leading that trend, and it recently decided to diversify its Board by naming a woman as its new Lead Director (Click to read). It will be interesting to what other companies will hop on the bandwagon and do the same.

Chicago law firms like Vedder Price, Kirkland & Ellis and Perkins Coie also have a diversity programs in place for students. And banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have the same.  I’m a really big fan of the diversity programs, as I think they’re a great ‘first step toward creating more diverse organizations and industries.  And just as important, it’s also a way for companies to display it core values as they head into the new decade.

Because the best leaders and best companies understand that values are important. These are leaders who understand that long-term results are more important than short term profits and so they steer organizations to think critically about their values before making any business decisions. And in the end, these are the companies that will lead. And not only will they change the industries but will also change the world.