Are you in the right career?

While at Pepperdine last week I met with Dean Ron Phillips and discussed Career Secret Sauce. Ron was the first Dean of the Law School and served in that capacity until 1997. As careers go, his has been magnificent (his biography is below).

We were talking about the mistakes people make when they select their vocations and Ron said “people often get in trouble by chasing their passion, rather than applying their aptitude.”

I said “well, you must have known very young that you wanted to work in the legal profession.”

He almost jumped out of his chair. “Absolutely not; in fact I spent 8 years trying a number of different jobs and was just plain unhappy at all of them. I worked in my brother’s construction company; I tried outside sales, and even worked in the weather-stripping business in West Texas.”

“One day someone suggested that I take an aptitude test and figure out what my natural strengths were,” Ron said. “I discovered the Johnson O’Conner Research Center. My father paid for me to take their 6 hour aptitude test and I was on the way to finding my life’s calling.”

“When I got the results it was crystal clear that I should be a lawyer. By then I was married with children, but with the help of my wonderful wife, I took an accelerated 27-month law degree program and changed my career. I became a lawyer.”

Needless to say Ron turned out to be a pretty good lawyer and eventually moved to Los Angeles and serve as the first Dean for Pepperdine School of Law, one of the top schools in the country.

This post is not just a nice story about a great man, it’s food for thought if you’ve been feeling lost in your current career. There are Johnson O’Conner testing centers in eleven major cities around the United States. For $600 you can go and spend a day with them and discover your natural aptitudes.

Of course if you discover you’re in the wrong line of work, it may be difficult or even painful to change it. But if your current job is leaving you empty, it may just be your Career Secret Sauce!

Dave

The Johnson O’Conner Research Center — www.jocrf.org

 

Ronald F. Phillips

Vice Chancellor, School of Law Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law
B.S., Abilene Christian University, 1955
J.D., University of Texas, 1965

Referred to as the “architect and administrator of the Pepperdine University School of Law,” Ronald Phillips served as its dean for twenty-seven years. In June 1997, he was honored with the title of dean emeritus and assumed his responsibility as vice chancellor full-time. In this position, he works with alumni and friends in seeking support for the law school and university.

He is a member of the state bars of California and Texas, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute, the Los Angeles Bar Association, and the Christian Legal Society. He was a California commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws from 1988 to 2003. He is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He was the chair of the section on the Administration of Law Schools in 1982, was on the Committee on Courts from 1985 to 1987, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Military Appeals. Prior to his deanship at Pepperdine, he had a private law practice and was an adjunct professor at Abilene Christian University. He was also a corporate staff attorney at McWood Corporation and its successor, the Permian Corporation, also in Abilene, Texas.

In reference to his outstanding career as dean, he says that “I am deeply blessed. Few people have been able to spend such a significant portion of their lives in such a rewarding endeavor.”