Yesterday was a good day. It began with 6am basketball and ended with a celebration dinner around 8:30 pm. The biggest event of the day was the second Daytona Beach City Commission reading of our zoning request change for the Daytona Live! project. We won approval with a unanimous 7-0 vote of the commission. I have previously posted pictures of this project here, so check them out.

Daytona LIve! is a fantastic development that I have had the privilege to work on. I have put in a ton of hours, but also learned a tremendous amount!! In the coming weeks, I plan to blog about some of the ups and downs, highs and lows, and failures and successes I have encountered throughout this project. We have a few more steps to go before construction starts, but with the zoning change our team can see the project taking shape. It is VERY exciting. Get ready Daytona Beach - a new world headquarters for International Speedway Corporation and NASCAR, plus a world class entertainment destination is coming your way!

Finding a trusted peer your can confide in and bounce thing off of is another way to grow as a professional. Timing is not as critical as finding the right people.  I have about 3 or 4 of these types of people in my life – my wife, an associate with whom I have coffee with each morning, and a good friend from out of town (not a lawyer). You have to give a confidant the right to speak into your life and career. Provide them with the avenue to candidly express an opinion about your situation or tell you in no uncertain terms that you are right or wrong.  

Having a mentor is great, but a closer associate will allow you to speak very frank and candidly discuss issues, problems and ideas. These people can be your “sounding board” to help you determine if you really have an issue or if you are seeing the situation clearly.  I have even found that expressing joys, frustrations or concerns to a confidant may pay dividends, as they can sometimes find a way to help you out in a tight situation. 

Take a look around and determine if you have a confidant. If you do not have one, start working towards developing that type of relationship. Let us know what effective strategies you use to develop or grow confidant relationships.

Even with a month off, the blog has remained fairly active. After 2 months of being up (one moth of actually blogging),  we reached a milestone - 1,000 hits. Not sure where that rates in comparison, but I am sure it is not lighting the world on fire. In any event, it is a milestone and Reflective Counsel presses on…

                 I took a sabbatical and am now back. While away, I took some time to re-evaluate this blog. I am sure I lost some readers during the time away, but I wanted to be sure I was better focused. My wife thinks I need to talk less about “boring business stuff” and more about “fun things.” She has a decent point, so I am going to try to incorporate some more personal stories, while maintaining the business/legal focus. During the month, our church went on a Daniel Fast. It was truly a stretching point, but one that helped me to focus on the things that really matter and seek continued direction for my life.

                I came across a great article for you bloggers out there - How to Blog and Keep a Full Time Job. I am taking the advice and will hopefully stay on track.

Al dropped me from his blogroll (maybe I can get back in his good graces…), but my brother, Troy and Marvin still have the love.  Brewster, Evan, and Tomas never added me…I guess I have to work harder for some love!

Look for my a post in the next few hours and coming days….it is good to be back!

 I read a decent blog regularly aimed at lawyers. Today, their post “GC Wannabe” was a good one that directed readers to a great article about what companies (and recruiters) look for when they hire a General Counsel. Have a look and let us know what you think in the comments below. My initial reaction to these articles were that they were dead on. Working as in-house counsel opens your eyes to a lot of things lawyers who desire to be a GC should know and put into practice.

 Receiving insight, direction, advice, correction or an occasional pep talk from someone who has become invested in you and your career is a priceless asset.  Mentors have been discussed by the finest business schools and coaches for years; however, finding the right mentor could be critical to your success.

I was fortunate to be hired by a very good lawyer who took me under his wing when I started working and continues to help guide me through my career. My friends have had to actively seek out someone willing to mentor them. However you come across a person in your life that can help you through you career, put that goal on the top of your to do list - find a mentor. They have been their before, done what you have done and made it through. In large corporations, a person who knows the landmines and guides you through them could quickly propel your career beyond what you may eventually learn by trial and error.

Regardless of how a mentor comes into your life (they seek you or you seek them), be selective with whom you give the authority to speak into your life and career. While having the right mentor can do nothing but good things for you, having the wrong mentor is difficult to recover from. Think seriously about finding a mentor and tapping into their experience to help you in your life and career.

It is about that time again. ESPN.com is running a countdown clock. ESPN (the network) has “25 hours of IT.” Everyone is chatting about it in the lunchroom. Heck, I even got an Excel spreadsheet (complete with little helmets) emailed to me. College football season is upon us and beings tonight….T-minus 5 hours, 44 minutes and counting…

 The opportunity to work with great people is something most professionals encounter throughout your career. However, every once in a while you will run across people with whom you do not mesh. Face it, not everyone will like you or get along with you.  This could happen for a variety of reasons - all of which are irrelevant for our purposes. In these situations, accomplishing your goal will rely on remaining professional and not allowing your personal feelings to get in the way.

I am currently trying to work on a deal with a company I simply don’t enjoy conversing with. They are arrogant, brash, ignorant and sometimes just plain mean. (I am sure they would say the same about me.) However, they are not my client and my job is to make the best deal I can do for my company.  I remind myself each time I correspond with this group that I do not need to like them to get the deal done.  And I need to ensure that my personal feelings do not get in the way of my professional responsibility.

You will come across these situations at some point in your career. The advice I offer is advice I am following daily - be professional; be courteous; stay focused on your goal; and don’t let the business relationship get personal. You must invest yourself into your work, but that does not require you to personally like or even enjoy working with your counterpart.  Your personal feeling will only hinder achieving the goals before you.

We would be glad to read your comments with insight you have learned about staying professional in light of a personally challenging client or associate.

On a future post in this series, lets discuss how “getting personal” in a good way can help you down the road.

 Hearing rumblings about a very cool development, if true. Rumor has it that Yates Racing has asked NASCAR to allow Hendrick Motorsports to use the #38 next year. Apparently, Dale Jr. may run this number as a tribute to his dad (#3), while keeping his #8 in the mix. Very smart move and well thought out….merchandising will be through the roof!

 I digress from our Professional Counsel series to share a recent project accomplishment. Last tonight my company and our partner went before the Daytona Beach Planning Board to request approval for our redevelopment known as Daytona Live! As a lifelong resident, I am very excited about this project and have been thrilled to work on it. As you can see by the pictures, it will be quite a neat development.

After a few hours at the planning board, we received a unanimous, positive vote of 10-0 in favor of our project. I can honestly say that while I fully believe in this project, I did not expect such a positive result.

I have been engrossed in this project for well over 2 years now and tonight I finally started seeing some legit progress. We still have to present to the City Commission (twice), obtain Site Approvals and lots of other legwork, but at least we are moving. At some point, I will share a few stories from this process that I learned during the journey.

I am working with a fantastic team of consultants and professionals. There are over 30 people working on this project, so listing the names would take forever. We could not have arrived here without each person. Thanks for all the hard work and effort!