A self-aware lawyer is a higher-performing lawyer.

Let me guide your attorneys to their adversarial sweet spot.

It’s costing you. And it’s insidious. The adversarial thoughts that enrich you spontaneously trigger adversarial impulses that drain you.

Productivity and quality sink. Disengagement and turnover spike. Miseries galore.

But professional adversaries who become aware of these intuitive impulses can control these intuitive impulses.

That’s my specialty. I’ve been teaching mindfulness skills for twenty-five years. I’ll show your people how to notice and control their internal signals so they can flourish amid external pressures.

Book me. I’ll help your crew protect their minds and ease their grinds.

—John Marcoux

Professional Development Speaker

 

Cornell J.D. William & Mary B.S.

Programs

  • Ever Ready Adversary

    Jolts of fear, half-heartedness, hopelessness, selfishness, and surrender can zap anybody’s resolve. Poised competitors notice and control these impulses to sustain their adversarial mettle.

  • Elite Contenders Contend Alike

    A legendary judge, a samurai warrior, and a hall-of-fame baseball pitcher walk into a bar and... realize they all flex the same strengths! Observe and learn from these paragons of mindful competition.

  • Dodging Demoralizers

    Feeling cornered? Doomscrolling pessimisms? Fixating on win-loss horizons? These cognitive traps deplete your will to compete. Learn how to identify, evade, and escape such spirit-sapping snares.

  • Go Large By Getting Small

    Stop being a defensive, self-centered, know-it-all braggart. Achieve more by being less. Elevate your career with humility that clients, colleagues, and rivals cannot help but admire.

Sam Feder

Partner, Jenner & Block

“John’s talk at our retreat blew my mind. I had thought about quitting the law, but John made me aware of knee-jerk reflexes that were draining my battery. The fix felt instantaneous.”

Adversarial thinking triggers impulses that get lost in the fog of work or dismissed as nuisances. Explore how to notice & control these intuitive signals to boost performance and well-being.

This is self-regulation. This cannot be outsourced. I can show you the how-to so that you can go do.

Sarah Spain

espnW • iHeart podcaster of "Good Game with Sarah Spain” • Author of Runs In The Family

“John was one of my all-time favorite podcast guests and I've frequently discussed his work with other guests, colleagues, family, and friends. It's so important for people to understand the tricks their minds play, especially folks in high-stress jobs, so they can be intentional about preventing an adversarial mindset from following them home from work. John’s episode drew a response so strong that I re-broadcast it at the end of the year.”

John striking a very adversarial pose

photo © AmarisGranado.com

 

For twenty-five years, I have been guiding meditation and yoga students through hell.

Don't be fooled by all those images of blissed-out, flower-sniffing yogis. Meditators traverse internal landscapes every bit as hostile as the external landscapes encountered in law, business, and life. Every competitor could learn a thing or two from the contemplative disciplines.

That’s where I may be of service to you. My programs integrate meditative techniques into daily work practices. We’re not talking about burning incense or chanting OM here, but about deploying skills that mitigate the cognitive frictions threatening to deplete the will to compete.

James Sammataro

Partner, Pryor Cashman

“When John spoke at our partner retreat about dodging demoralizers, no one was looking at their phones. He captivated the room. When he finished, my colleagues demanded more. John bantered for another forty minutes of Q&A. Like butter.”

To become undaunted, read my law review article Supreme Court Samurai. To witness a clutch adversarial performance, read my creative nonfiction essay The Death Poem Of Bob Marley.

Seth Bromberger

Professor of Cybersecurity, Cal State-East Bay

“John’s lecture showed perfect empathy for the plight of cybersecurity pros who must stay ready to spring out of bed and fend off attacks at 3 am. He taught us how to protect the minds that protect the computer systems.”