Nancy Myrland, Myrland Marketing & Social Media will be joining me for a Coffee Break on Friday, November 6 at 9:30 am (PT) | 11:30 CT | 12:30 pm ET.

I’ve asked Nancy to be my guest not only because she’s my friend and I’m hoping to get some free marketing advice on how to do this whole thing business development thing in an AI world, but I’m curious as to how she keeps herself current with the ever evolving digital world we live in. I want to know where she’s learning all of this. What tools is she using? What conferences she attends? How is she keeping up with it all? And what advice does she have for all of us GenXers and Baby Boomers who get technology but really weren’t ready to learn a whole new way of doing business?

So follow us LIVE on YouTube or Facebook (if I can get that settings on FB right … I’ll ask Nancy)! I’ll post the full videos on the YouTube channel after or on my LinkedIn.

And don’t forget to like, follow, subscribe, and comment … gotta feed those algorithms.

And if you missed last week’s Coffee Break with Catherine Alman MacDonagh, my partner at FIRM Guidance where we talked about Weil and my experience having gone through a firm’s “winding down of operations,” our new product FIRM Signal, and shared our favorite Halloween candy we used to steal from our kids, you can view it here (Nancy does make a cameo appearance):

Reading the news this week that Weil Gotshal is winding down brought it all back.

For seven years, I was the Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at McGlinchey Stafford, which voted to “wind down operations” in early January of this year. The circumstances that led the members of our firm to vote to wind down echo what I am reading about Weil: a hoped-for merger that did not materialize, a practice group choosing to move, and other attorneys making plans to leave.

In the midst of this, I was grieving for my father, who had passed away unexpectedly. On top of that, my husband was in the process of being diagnosed with cancer. (He is fine now.)

In the days between Christmas and New Year’s 2025, I was working with a small team to write internal and external communications and prepare for the media onslaught should the members vote to dissolve the firm when we returned to office after the New Year’s holiday. In those early weeks of 2026, I was living a day at a time as the “what next” changed by the moment. In January and February, as my team was helping staff, some of whom had worked for the firm for more than four decades, create LinkedIn profiles and draft resumes, I was trying to figure out our health insurance, because there would be no COBRA come March.

I am not telling you this for sympathy. I am telling you because it is what the end of a firm looks like from the inside. It isn’t a headline. It is a thousand decisions made by tired people who are also managing their personal lives.

What is reported about Weil

Weil, founded in 1931, has more than 1,200 lawyers on three continents, according to its website. Last year it had $2.1 billion in revenue and more than $5.6 million in profits per equity partner (PPEP), and it ranked in the AmLaw 50, per American Lawyer data. Those are numbers any firm would be proud of, but these numbers do not provide a full picture of a law firm’s health.

According to Above the Law, the firm had a lease obligation for about 380,000 square feet of office space across the street from Central Park in New York City. While the firm has not confirmed the news, Bloomberg Law, citing a source briefed on the decision, says the firm is winding down. Earlier in the week, Above the Law reported failed merger talks, a September departure of its corporate chair, and an incoming executive partner who decided not to take the job.

I can’t tell you why this happened. Nobody outside the firm can. What I can tell you is that the numbers everyone quotes, revenue and PPEP, tell you very little about what is actually happening inside a firm.

The numbers are not wrong. They are late

Revenue and PPEP report what already happened. They are a very good rearview mirror. Even Kirkland & Ellis, the highest-grossing firm in the world, recently told The American Lawyer it would stop sharing its financials, saying the ranking “could incentivise quantitative metrics over qualitative strengths,” as the Financial Times reported.

Good numbers give a firm a reason to postpone harder conversations. Every uncomfortable question gets the same answer: look at the chart. Nobody is lying. Nobody is ignoring the data. The data just doesn’t ask the questions that matter.

And the conversation is rarely missing. It is happening beside the coffee maker, in the parking lot, and in the text thread during the partners meeting. It just isn’t happening in the room where someone can act on it.

Two questions, scored separately

The questions I wish someone had put in front of us when we had time to act are simple. How exposed is the firm to the forces reshaping legal services? And how ready is it to respond?

Exposure is mostly outside your control: client behavior, pricing pressure, AI absorbing work task by task. Readiness is inside it: leadership, decisions, process, people, the will to act. A firm can be highly exposed and well prepared, or barely exposed and unprepared. The gap between them is where the conversations need to take place.

Here are the ten places I would look. For each, ask the exposure (E) question and the readiness (R) question separately.

1. Leadership
(E) Have competitors recruited any of your partners in the past year?
(R) In the past year, did leadership make a decision that cost a partner money or status and see it through?

2. Client concentration and migration
(E) Does more than 30% of your revenue come from your ten largest clients?
(R) Have you asked each of those clients how they plan to buy legal services in two years?

3. Culture
(E) Has remote or hybrid work changed how often your partners and associates are in the office together?
(R) Do people say in your partners meetings what they say in the hallway afterward?

4. Finance and investment
(E) Is more than half of your revenue still billed by the hour?
(R) Would your partners accept a lower distribution this year to pay for a change?

5. Operations
(E) Could a client, a legal technology company, or a competitor now handle your most common type of matter faster or for less?
(R) Can the person in charge of that matter type describe how it moves from intake to invoice and name who owns each step?

6. Regulatory and reform posture
(E) Could pending changes to the rules on outside ownership, AI use, or unauthorized practice of law affect how you operate in the next two years?
(R) Does someone at your firm track those changes and report them to leadership?

7. Talent pipeline and bench
(E) Does AI now do work that your first- and second-year associates used to do, such as document review, first drafts, or research?
(R) Has your firm replaced that work with other training for those associates?

8. Technology and knowledge assets
(E) Have any of your clients asked how you use AI or protect their data?
(R) Could you tell a client within a day where its documents are stored and who can see them?

9. Pricing and commoditization
(E) Are you still billing by the hour for work that now takes minutes?
(R) Can someone at your firm approve a flat fee without going to a committee?

10. AI displacement exposure
(E) Does AI already handle any of the main tasks in your largest practice group?
(R) Does someone own the plan for that work, with a date to report back?

One more question sits under all ten: who is in the room when you plan? In too many firms, the people who see disruption first, the COO, CFO, CIO, and CMO, are often not.

What I wish someone had said

I wish someone had walked in and asked us these questions. Not to rescue us. Not to tell us we were wrong. Just to ask, and to provide us a secure place to answer honestly. Maybe it would have changed nothing. I would still have liked to have the conversation.

I didn’t have a choice in what happened at McGlinchey. I did get to choose what I did next. That is why I’m doing this work now: to help other firm leaders see what we didn’t see in time, and to facilitate the conversation while they still have options.

If your numbers look good this year, this is the best time to have that honest conversation. Ask early. Ask out loud. Ask while it still matters.

XXX

Originally posted on JD Supra.

Heather Morse is VP, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at FIRM Guidance. She was previously Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at McGlinchey Stafford and has spent nearly 30 years in legal marketing and business development. With Catherine Alman MacDonagh, she built FIRM Signal™, a diagnostic that scores a firm’s exposure and readiness across ten dimensions.

Two longtime legal industry leaders join forces to help law firms see the gaps, anticipate what’s next and turn uncertainty into strategic action.

[Bonita Springs, Fla. — October 26, 2026] — FIRM Guidance, a law firm consultancy founded in 2009 and led by Catherine Alman MacDonagh, J.D., announced that Heather Morse has joined the company as vice president and chief marketing and strategy officer. Together, MacDonagh and Morse bring 60 years of business-of-law experience to firms that want a candid conversation about where they stand and what to do next.

“Since the law firm where I last served as chief marketing and business development officer wound down operations, I have focused on where and how I am best situated to contribute my expertise within the business of law,” Morse said. “I landed on helping law firm leaders anticipate, prepare for and respond to the tremendous changes facing our industry.”

FIRM Guidance focuses on strategy, change management and experience work (client, employee, brand and service). With their new offering, FIRM Signal™, MacDonagh and Morse provide an honest look at a firm’s current market position and business objectives. They then facilitate the conversations leaders need to have but often find uncomfortable or aren’t sure how to begin.

“Most law firm leaders see and feel the ground shifting, and AI is accelerating it,” said MacDonagh. “What leaders need most — and appreciate — is someone who will tell them what they need to know, not what they want to hear. I use the same approach I took as a practicing lawyer: assess the current situation, consider important factors and business drivers, help them figure out what to do, and then guide them as they pursue their goals. The legal landscape is shifting faster than ever. That is why coming together with Heather right now is so important.”

“One of those drivers is AI. Most firms are treating it as a technology issue. It isn’t. It’s a strategy and change management challenge. Technology is changing how work gets done, data is changing how decisions are made, clients are changing what they are willing to pay for, and AI is changing the economics of legal work,” Morse adds.

What They Do

Through FIRM Guidance, MacDonagh and Morse will lead and support conversations with law firm leadership about strategy and change issues. Their offerings include programs, workshops, training, coaching and FIRM Signal™, a diagnostic and engagement that scores a firm’s exposure to market change and its readiness to respond. A separate FIRM Signal announcement is planned.

About Heather Morse

Heather Morse is vice president and chief marketing and strategy officer of FIRM Guidance. She has more than 25 years of experience building and leading law firm marketing and business development functions that drive strategic growth. A Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management since 2018, Morse is also the author of The Legal Watercooler, an award-winning blog focused on the business of law.

About Catherine Alman MacDonagh

Catherine Alman MacDonagh, J.D., is president and CEO of String of Pearls Companies DBA FIRM Guidance and founder and CEO of the Legal Lean Sigma Institute. A lawyer, entrepreneur, award-winning management consultant, professor, author and speaker, she has spent more than 30 years in the legal industry as a corporate counsel, a law firm executive and a strategic advisor. She is also a co-founder of the Legal Sales and Service Organization and a co-founder and Chief Enthusiasm Officer of the Legal Mocktail. Honors include Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management (2009), American Lawyer’s inaugural Trailblazers list, Fastcase 50 and Legal Marketing Association Hall of Fame (the association’s highest honor).

About FIRM Guidance

FIRM Guidance is a professional services consultancy that gives law firms, legal departments and professional services organizations straight talk, a clear read on where they stand and guides who support the work. Its services include strategic planning, organizational development, leadership advisory, training, coaching, speaking and management consulting.

Learn more at FIRMGuidance.com.

Media Contact

Morse and MacDonagh are available for interviews.

Heather Morse

VP, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, FIRM Guidance

Heather@FIRMGuidance.com  |  310.293.3956

Catherine Alman MacDonagh, J.D.

President and CEO, FIRM Guidance

Catherine@FIRMGuidance.com  |  857.272.5695

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I am so excited to announce the launching of The Legal Watercooler Coffee Break series! I have invited a group of my legal industry friends to come join me each Friday for a cup of coffee and some industry chat.

Mark your calendars!

Launching

Friday, October 30, 2026

9:30 am PT | 11:30 CT | 12:30 pm ET

Live on YouTube or Facebook

(don’t forget to subscribe!)

Catherine Alman MacDonagh, JD and I have been hinting that we’ve been up to something this summer and today feels like the right day to let you in on it.

It started with a simple, uncomfortable observation: AI is contributing to the legal industry changing faster than most firms are willing to admit. Not because leaders can’t see it. Most can. They just haven’t had a clear-eyed way to answer two questions that actually matter:

1. How exposed is my firm to what’s coming?
2. And how ready is my firm to respond?

Those are different questions. A firm can look completely fine on paper and still be dangerously unprepared for what’s coming. We built FIRM Signal™ to measure the gap between the exposure and the readiness a firm has to respond to change on ten different dimensions. This is not an AI tool, but a diagnostic to help your firm see the signals, close the gap, and move forward.

Working with Catherine on this has been the best part of my year. For those who know us, we see things similarly but bring two completely different approaches to the table. This has been fun.

And if you want the real first look: join us Friday, October 9 at 9:30am PT / 12:30pm ET for a live preview. Registration here.

See the signals. Close the gap. Move forward.

How to know when your AI plan needs to be revisited

*A response from someone who watched these fault lines converge from the inside.*

By Heather Morse

While I read Gina Rubel‘s recent piece, Warning Signs Mid-Market Firms Ignore at Their Peril Before a Forced ‘Combination’ or Collapse, I couldn’t help but see myself and my recent lived experience. Until just a few months ago, I was the chief marketing and business development officer of a mid-sized law firm before it wound down its operations. It happened fast. I don’t think any one of us could point to one cause. Rubel accurately identifies the risks confronting mid-sized law firms and makes the case for taking action now.

In my experience, there is one emerging force that is amplifying every item on that list. A pattern I recognized from Rubel’s article is one I’m sure we’re all familiar with:

  • Many mid-sized firms, ours included, compete for some of the same clients as the Am Law 100 and 200. Those clients want to pay mid-sized firms substantially less per hour for comparable work, effectively pricing substantive legal work at commodity rates.
  • Competing at that level meant investing in things like technology and talent well beyond what our margins could support.
  • The competition for all legal and business talent, especially lateral partners, is more intense than ever. Mid-sized firms struggle to afford the lateral partners, especially those who can elevate their established practices (and rates). Lateral associates are negotiating for the same salaries their peers are earning at more competitive firms, leaving the firm’s associates vulnerable to headhunters.
  • Oftentimes, the profits per equity partner (PPEP) and the firm’s point value metrics weigh too heavily in a firm’s strategic or business planning and operations.

And finally, the numbers work for a long time. Right up until they don’t.

That’s the dynamic Rubel describes. And when that dynamic intersects with a force unlike anything the profession has faced before, the implications become even more significant.

The variable that must get added to the list

AI, generative and agentic, is not merely one more item to add to the risk list. It’s already compressing the billable work – drafting, research, first-pass review, etc. – that used to fund the hiring and infrastructure firms needed to compete. At the same time, it’s raising what clients expect on efficiency, price, and turnaround. Two problems that used to arrive one at a time are now arriving together. Same clock.

On top of that, the client does not want to pay for the investment in AI, or the efficiency it creates. Yet the law firm business model is still built on the billable hour. Most firms aren’t prepared to shift to alternative fee models like value-based or project billing.

Part of why the profession is slow to respond is baked into how lawyers are trained. Good lawyering means reasoning from precedent, and there isn’t one for this. The instinct that makes someone excellent at practicing law is the same instinct that slows a firm down when there’s no comparable case to cite.

Over the course of my career, I have watched this instinct play out even in small decisions. Committees spend weeks building a business case for a new lateral hire, a familiar exercise with familiar comparables, only to see the candidate accept an offer elsewhere when the interview process bleeds into months. A proposal to restructure how the firm conducts new client intake, or closes files when a matter concludes, gets caught in an endless cycle of edits, each one nudging the new process a little closer to the old one.

In both cases, it was the reach for something familiar, a comparable deal, a familiar process, that cost the firm. The same muscle memory that makes lawyers excellent advocates becomes a liability in strategy. Wait for the precedent, and by the time one exists, someone else has already set it.

The timing is worse than it looks – and the problem is hiding in plain sight

Thomson Reuters’ 2026 Report on the State of the US Legal Market shows mid-market firms outgrowing the Am Law 100 this year. That should be good news. It also means less internal pressure to change anything, which is exactly the wrong instinct right now.

Good current numbers are becoming cover for exposure that debt, receivables, and concentration metrics were never built to measure. That’s exactly why planning still matters, just not the five-year, vision-and-mission kind. Nothing holds still long enough for that anymore. Instead, shorter term scenario planning is what is needed.

What I would push for

Treat AI exposure as something you check continuously, not something you write into a plan once a year and revisit at the next retreat.

We already know the risks. The challenge is creating a disciplined way to assess where a firm is exposed and whether leadership is prepared to act before those vulnerabilities become crises. Most firms aren’t short on intelligence about what’s coming. They’re short on willingness to give something up, whether that’s headcount, short-term income, or a piece of their identity.

It also means being willing to rethink a strategic plan that’s six months old and start over. Don’t let sunk costs talk you out of funding the plan that’s actually right. In fact, an outdated plan in a market moving this fast doesn’t just fail to help. It gives leadership, and everyone else, a false sense that the problem is being considered and handled.

How do you know if your AI plan needs to be revisited?

To know if your AI plan needs to be revisited, ask three questions:

  1. Does the plan address how AI is already reshaping the practice of law, not just the business of it?
  2. Does the plan commit real dollars and real training, or does it just check the box with a pilot program that got mentioned once and shelved?
  3. Is leadership genuinely willing to act on what the plan reveals, even if it means changing course?

A plan missing any one of those isn’t strategic anymore. It’s a document that used to be true. It’s like litigating a point using evidence already proven ineffective or inadmissible.

The threats a firm can’t see coming are the ones it has no precedent to recognize. The firms that make it through this won’t be the ones with nothing to worry about. They’ll be the ones who went looking for the problem before the market found it for them.

—

* Heather Morse is the founder of Heather Morse Advisory, which helps law firm leadership assess their exposure to AI-driven disruption and build the willingness to act on what they find.*

“Reprinted with permission from the July 31, 2026, edition of the Law.com © 2026 ALM Global Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-256-2472 or asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com.”

Confession time (again). My head is busy. Always busy. I am thinking. Always thinking. The Sports Dude can see when I am thinking. Deeply thinking.

When I am over-stimulated with ideas, caffeine, and people, it can be overwhelming, and I end up processing externally.

As you can imagine, it is difficult to hear when you’re thinking and processing like that. It is especially challenging to hear truths.

Connecting at LMA

I am fortunate that the LMA annual conference is here in New Orleans this year. The Sports Dude and I were planning to be out of town for our anniversary, but cancer and life had other plans. So, I’m hanging in the lobby. Seeing friends. Chatting away. Becoming over-stimulated.

The spinning plates in my head are spinning. What am I going to do for work? The Sports Dude’s health. I’m in the final decade or so of my career, what will be my legacy? My son arrives today for Jazz Fest. I have this idea; I actually have two. Can I make those happen?

It’s honestly exhausting. And my external processing is in full swing. Just ask me, “So, what are you up to? Any good leads? Irons in the fire?” and stand back.

With friends like these

When I saw my friend Lisa Simon I received the most incredible and long hug. The kind of hug that makes you melt and let go. Lisa and I have known one another through LMA for nearly 30 years. We align professionally, personally, and musically. I have so much respect for her.

When she asked the “So, any leads? Irons in the fire” question, my spinning plates started to respond and when we got to the “I’m thinking about my legacy,” Lisa interrupted me, and said: “I know what that is,” and the plates in my head grew still. None of them fell, they just paused, and I listened. Better yet, I heard her.

It was like the time that Ross Fishman caught me off guard at LMA Austin with this question:

I don’t know what you do,” Ross said to me. “I know you’re smart. I know you do what you do well. But I don’t know what your brand is.

If you’re interested in my response, you can read about that here: My own personal branding exercise.

Lisa asked me again:

I know what your legacy will be. Do you want me to tell you?

And I listened. Really and intently listened.

Your legacy is that you are a voice for us legal marketers. And you have used that voice in ways that people may not know.

She went on to add:

And you see problems and you move towards the solutions. Many people see problems, but most of them ignore them or walk away.

In that moment, I felt seen, that vulnerable seen. And it felt incredible because it came from someone I respect, and I was safe in that vulnerability.

Can I handle my truth?

I have used this blog, my community of Facebook, my LinkedIn profile to advocate for different ideas and things, not always popular, and sometimes on behalf of other people. Many times, controversial. I have definitely received more than one phone call questioning why I posted that and would I take it down.

But I have achieved results.

At work, on the LMA board, on committees, as president of my condo HOA, I have identified problems and I have always brought solutions.

As I enter this (final) decade or so of my career, there are two problems to which I am committed to finding a solution:

  1. How do we truly move our industry–the legal marketing/BD departments in law firms–to a data-driven functionality?
  2. We will never solve the problem of cross-selling in law firms until we solve the problem of the attorneys not knowing, liking, or trusting their fellows (partners and and senior professionals) within their firms.

As you can imagine, I have ideas. Those twirling plates are twirling, but in unison now.

It’s two months today since my last “official” work day at McGlinchey Stafford; I figure it’s time for an update on me … and the Sports Dude.

So as we were scrambling to figure out those last days at the firm, the Sports Dude and I were scrambling to figure out what that swollen lymph node was all about that he noticed last year. They did an ultrasound and now they wanted to do a biopsy … but our insurance was going to be cut off on Friday COB. So we scrambled again and moved his biopsy up to that last day.

Yes. Cancer. Now what?

More scrambling. Found a new insurance plan to take over on March 1 (holy, hell, that’s expensive), which was great because his exploratory surgery (and tonsillectomy) was scheduled for a few days after that.

Cancer confined to his left tonsil. Very good news. 95% cure rate. Fantastic. Gonna have to start six rounds of chemo and 33 radiation treatments. Not so great, but we’ll get through it. Not our first medical rodeo after all.

And here we are. At the midway point in his chemo. He’s tolerating the treatments quite well and just starting to experience some of the discomfort from the radiation that will turn into pain very soon in his throat.

So what about me?

I’m still #OpenForWork in the broader sense of the term, but I have been able to pick up some consulting work that will stretch our savings. A 0% credit card for the insurance premiums and expenses is coming in handy, credit score be damned.

I often share that in my life it is only in hindsight that I can see that I was exactly where I was supposed to be all along. However, when I’m in good spiritual conditioning, I can see things in real time. And boy is the time real right now.

Turns out that I had really picked up my 11th Step (prayer and meditation) practice at a good time last year, diving into some journaling for the first time since my college boyfriend read my journals.

I was feeling all Zen and then Q4 of 2025 hit: My dad died suddenly on October 1; there was a breakdown in my relationship with my mom who was living with us at the time; McGlinchey’s implosion; and, Eric’s health taking a turn towards cancer.

It’s easy to say that you are where you’re supposed to be when everything is going your way, but I also have an ego and a healthy amount of fear and I was vacillating between Zen/being in the moment and WTF??? And there were days that WTF was winning.

Am I really where I’m supposed to be?

So why the over sharing? First of all, I know I am not alone in life challenges, and if no one shares what is going on, then we all feel alone. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like feeling like I’m alone. And you’re not alone.

Secondly, I am fortunate to have picked up some consulting work from InOutsource on a passion project. Not sure if that will turn into more, but right now, it’s where I’m supposed to be. I am so grateful to be working along side this team (and more about that at a later time), which could really bring solutions to a challenge many marketing/BD teams are experiencing.

Finally, it’s not easy to stay in the zone of “I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.” It takes focus and work. I’m on a 60-day streak with Insight Timer (it takes 66 days to change a habit) and journaling most days. I’ve had to quiet the negative voices around me and really take action when the fears (especially fears around our finances) get to me. I get knocked off my Zen several times a week and have to scramble back each and every time.

But in this moment, I am:

  • doing work that has purpose;
  • able to be there for the Sports Dude when he needs me, and;
  • able to take care of my own physical, spiritual, and mental health.

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I know next week I’ll be showing up for the LMA Annual Conference that is conveniently located here in New Orleans this year; I will finish my certification in Generative AI & AI Agent Organizational Strategy for Leaders from Vanderbilt University; I will be sitting beside the Sports Dude for three more Tuesdays as he goes through his chemo; and, I will be at 7/8 days of Jazz Fest. And then it will be May.

Lawyers, by nature, are risk averse. They lack resilience. Don’t take my word for it, Dr. Larry Richard has done the research. So it comes to no surprise that lawyers and law firms have been unnervingly silent regarding the administration’s recent actions against lawyers, law firms, the First Amendment, as well as the rule of law.

I was very heartened to see the American Bar Association (ABA) take a public stance yesterday in their statement, The ABA rejects efforts to undermine the courts and the legal profession. I know most people won’t click through to read their statement, so I will post the full text at the end of this post. But first, I need to explain why I stand with the ABA and why I have signed onto a petition asking the Legal Marketing Association (LMA), where I had the pleasure of serving on its International Board of Directors, twice, to also speak up boldly and loudly in support of rule of law.

Why I stand with the ABA

My family fled Eastern Europe during the Pogroms. If you’ve seen Fiddler on the Roof, that was loosely based on the Kishinev Pogrom that my great-grandparents and their children survived (my grandfather was born soon after), and what drove them to America. I only know this because of researching my family’s ancestry. Silent generation and all.

Continue Reading What’s stopping you from standing up for the rule of law?

We live in interesting times. That is just a factual statement.

Right now, many people feel insecure, scared, and confused, while others feel just fine, perhaps elated and emboldened. That isn’t anything other than a factual statement as well.

In our leadership roles, we often talk about bringing our authentic selves to work, but does that include politics, one of the biggest taboo topics for work (along with religion)? And when we say work, is that just our offices? What about LinkedIn?

A few different LinkedIn posts in recent weeks have caught my attention, and I liked them. I did not think they were controversial but informative. What caused me to sit up in my chair were the comments from some of my 1st Connections that were, to say the least, combative, including commands not to post these types of things on LinkedIn.

My first instinct at that point was to put fingers to keyboard and respond, in all caps, “YOU KNOW WE CAN ALL SEE WHAT YOU JUST POSTED.”

But I refrained. But I did file those comments away.

I am not of the mindset that we cannot discuss politics (or religion) at work. It just needs to be done with a #3E mindset: Engage, Educate, Entertain. And I’ll add a fourth “E” for good measure: Empathy.

It is true that not being political is a privilege. It is also true that taking a position on current events may not necessarily be political but moral.

For me to be my authentic self, you need to know something about me, my family, and my experience. And I can do that without inflammatory rhetoric.

After sharing my thoughts, I can politely agree to disagree with you. Or perhaps I just give a “like” to your post to let you know that I hear you, I see you, and I value you and your opinion. A supportive comment to someone who has shared their vulnerabilities can go a long way. And, if it should move me, I might actually create a post to share my experience to engage, educate, and perhaps entertain you.

Through it all, I am acutely aware, and you should be as well, that anything I post publicly on any social media site can be seen by anyone. But when I post on LinkedIn, anything I post or comment on is immediately connected back to my firm and my professional role. I am, after all, wearing firm merch in my profile picture.

So post, comment, and like as you are so moved. But be mindful that anyone and everyone can see your posts. And perhaps keep that “E” for empathy close by as your final filter.