I just got through with a client meeting. It didn't go well. I asked two mid-level associates to sit in on the meeting with me, but didn't have a chance to give them any background. In the middle of the meeting, one of them asked a question that was pretty stupid. She probably would have realized it was stupid if I'd told her anything about the situation before the meeting. My reaction to her question was probably a little too harsh. I asked her to leave. I told her that if she was going to ask questions like that, she shouldn't do it in front of a client, and I told her it wasn't worth her sitting through the rest of the meeting and I would bring her up to speed later. She looked like she was going to cry. I think I was mad at myself for not preparing them at all for the meeting more than I was mad at her, but she was an easier target to take it out on. Right after the meeting, I told the other associate I thought I had been a bit harsh and was going to go apologize. But he told me she deserved it. "That was a dumb question. I would never have asked a question like that," he said. "She does that a lot. I don't think you need to apologize at all." I told him he's a jackass and went to apologize. The associates complain, but, deep down, they're worse than the partners. The culture they've been brought up in is much more cut-throat than what we had to deal with. It's brutal. They fight to see who can bill the most hours. They try to cut each other down to partners behind each other's backs. We know who the team players are. I mean, it doesn't really matter, in the end, whether or not you're a team player. But we know who you are. We take advantage, and it doesn't do you much good. But at least we recognize it.
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