How to Play Powerfully
Through her specialized expertise in negotiation and performance coaching, Robin F. Bond of Transition Strategies empowers clients to grow, evolve, and excel in the workplace.
“A smart person makes a mistake and learns from it. A wise person finds a smart person and learns how to avoid the mistake altogether.” This pithy quote from bestselling author Roy H. Williams almost perfectly captures the incalculable value that Robin F. Bond, Esq., provides to every client who is wise enough to hire her.
Bond, an employment attorney and the founder of the Chesterbrook-based law firm Transition Strategies LLC, has developed specialized expertise in complex employment matters such as executive compensation, discrimination claims, wrongful termination, job offers, severance agreements, and, perhaps her strongest suit, the art of negotiation. High-powered executives and other clients turn to Bond so they can make informed and deliberate decisions, avoid mistakes, and otherwise “play powerfully” when facing challenges in the workplace.
“You can’t live long enough to make all the mistakes there are to make,” Bond says. “Having someone like me on your side gives you the knowledge of people who have come before you. It also puts you in a position of power. I love being able to extend a hand, and then watch people grow, evolve, and excel, ultimately becoming everything that they can possibly be.”
More recently, Bond has broadened her expertise into the realm of performance coaching. Boiled down to its essence, performance coaching refers to a set of tools and techniques used to help good performers become great; these same tactics can be used to uplift solid performers who may have lost a step or two.
“Say somebody wants to become partner in a law firm or get a big raise or make sure they’re doing the right things if they’re in line for a promotion,” she says. “People can call me at any time and ask, ‘How do I respond to this or that?’ Sometimes people get stuck or aren’t performing well, so in those cases my job is to help them make positive changes, which sometimes means helping them get out of their own way. Performance coaching is very targeted and highly focused, and with each case we’re trying to answer a single question: How do we solve this problem?”
Given the unprecedented changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bond says the employment landscape has experienced “a real flip” over the past two years. Her expertise has become even more valuable as a result.
“The post-pandemic job market has become characterized by the Great Resignation, with a record number of people walking out of jobs,” she says. “Employees have a real upper hand now, meaning there’s a lot of room for negotiating, and that goes for all levels of employment. This is a great time to explore opportunities and leverage your strengths, whether you want to move on or play to stay.”
As a former corporate lawyer and military prosecutor, Bond felt drawn to employment law after witnessing the disparity in representation between deep-pocketed corporations on one side of the equation and seemingly powerless employees on the other. She remains devoted to empowering workers however she can. For example, she has accepted invitations to speak to members of professional groups and organizations, and share her wisdom about topics such as negotiating from a position of power and simple ways to avoid workplace mistakes. Though such meetings were once held in person, they have since migrated to Zoom and other online platforms, thereby enabling Bond to expand her reach.
“Empowerment is the most important thing I can offer people,” she says. “A few companies have hired me to teach women how to negotiate. I enjoy being able to help people—particularly women—stop feeling like underdogs, to recognize their capabilities, and to realize the world will not end if they take a chance. I want to help clients play powerfully, avoid the traps, and shine like the stars they are. You get to that level by practicing and taking chances. Sooner or later, it becomes second nature, but first you need to find the courage to take the initial step forward.”
That, of course, is where Bond’s knowledge and expertise come in. Though she is far too modest to put it so plainly, she has seen it all—and her clients benefit as a result.
“Good judgment comes from experience, and I’ve seen just about every situation happen to thousands of people,” she says. “For most people who come to me, they’re dealing with a problem for the first time. By having someone like me on your side, you can avoid the pitfalls countless others have made, and instead focus on being everything you’re capable of becoming.”
Transition Strategies LLC
88 Militia Hill Drive
Chesterbrook, PA 19087
(610) 640-5373
robin@transition-strategies.com
Photograph by Jody Robinson
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, September 2022.
