“I really have to thank you,” Alex said after we wrapped up our Foundation Workshop Series at his firm. “I feel completely different now.”

Before the workshop, Alex was stuck. He'd achieved his initial goal—making it to the firm—and then plateaued. He was doing his assigned tasks competently but without deeper understanding or initiative.

“In retrospect, I think I just hit all my goals and stopped making new ones,” he explained, shrugging. “I made it to the firm and just settled in.”

What changed?

“Well, one of my main takeaways was on taking ownership. Beforehand, I had just been doing the tasks asked of me. But now that I see the roadmap, I've started to dig into the file's full context. My goal is to give the partners confidence that I can manage the file.”

The transformation wasn't just in how he worked—it was in how he thought about his work.

“I'm plugging back in after dinner and planning ahead,” he told me.

“How come?”

“Well, now I see the importance of it. And I want to succeed here, and so I'm going to do what it takes.”

This is what happens when associates get clear direction. When they understand the roadmap to success, they don't need to be pushed—they take ownership. They see why certain things matter and make the choice to do them.

The best time to provide this direction? As early as possible. Every month an associate spends without a clear roadmap is a month of compounding disadvantage.