We get to know them well. Plus, unlike a law firm, I can spend as much time as I need to learn about the technology and the businesses I support without having to worry that my time is nonbillable. We work long hours here, but everything I do is contributing and valued. When I'm working, I work hard, but I also have a life outside of work. I just returned from a three-month maternity leave, and I didn't feel guilty about taking it.
Men also take their paternity leave.
There is more of an effort to maintain balance in our lives here than in many places. And after the lofty legal issues and the deals and the transactions are resolved, their efforts are distilled into something that exists for people all over the world. I've negotiated deals that allow people to access their bank accounts through telephone networks in Japan with Microsoft Money and I ve worked on deals that have enabled the development of products that allow you to surf the Internet in China. At the end of the day, when you finish a deal here, you feel like you're making something. Five or six of the deals may not happen, but one of them does.