I have a theory:  talented international lawyers rise above the rest of the pack–in part because they have superior creative thinking skills.  During my years as an international lawyer, I observed that the best and the brightest of my peers not only had fantastic analytic skills, but also a talent for creative thinking.  (Now as an international lawyer coach, I’m gathering data substantiating my theory.)

And so, I was fascinated to read Professor Christina Ting Fong’s theory that people who experience ambivalent emotions–simultaneously feeling positive and negative ones–enjoy a higher level of creativity.  In other words, as reported by the University of Washington (where Fong works), “[e]motionally ambivalent workers are more creative [and] innovative.”  According to Fong’s study, which was originally published by the American Management Association’s October edition of the Academy of Management Journal, when people feel the stress of mixed emotions, they think more creatively.

Fong suggests that an “odd” working environment can spur on creative thinking: ”emotional ambivalence can have positive consequences that can be leveraged for positive success.”  Fong cautions that an unusual or out of the ordinary working environment must be temporary; once workers perceive it as the norm, it loses its power as a creative stimulus. 

So, how does this translate to international lawyers?  Could it be that working while stationed in a foreign culture creates the very ambivalence that Fong references?  Not that most international lawyers don’t relish being foreign cultures, because they usually do.  However, the foreign culture usually differs from the lawyer’s home culture, at least enough to create a less than normal work environment–and, according to Fong’s theory, stimulate creative thought.

Perhaps this phenomenon extends to an international lawyer eternally-changing home office. Today’s advanced technology ensures that an international lawyer can be ”virtually” in Moscow one moment and ”virtually” in Doha the next.   The sheer variety of the topics tackled and clients served can also transform the aura of an attorney’s workplace. According to Professor Fong’s theory, this changing environment would keep an international lawyer just enough on edge to spawn creativity.