The Permission You Don’t Need to Earn

Saturday at the SC Bar Senior Lawyers Symposium, something shifted in a room of 30 managing partners. It started with an uncomfortable truth about succession planning.

The Selfish Trap

I shared my speaker school story—how I felt guilty investing in myself until I realized: “What if taking care of myself actually increased the time and energy I had for other people?”

That question changed everything. And Saturday, it clearly hit home.

The Bottleneck Problem

Every attorney said the same thing: “I can’t work on succession—I’m too busy taking care of clients.”

But that’s not being selfless. That’s being a bottleneck.

When you don’t invest in your future, you’re not protecting anyone—you’re trapping them.

The Reality Check

I had them take my succession readiness assessment live. 

These were successful attorneys who’d built impressive practices. But they’d built them in a way that trapped them.

What Changed

Three managing partners approached me after: “I’ve been waiting for permission to want something different. I just gave it to myself.”

The Strategic Question

What if taking care of your future actually made you better at taking care of everyone else?

That’s not selfish. That’s strategic.

Where Do You Stand?

Take the same assessment those attorneys took Saturday: https://summitsuccess.typeform.com/successionquiz

The managing partners discovered they weren’t as far from readiness as they thought. They just hadn’t given themselves permission to find out.

Magnifying glass highlighting a businessperson made of dollar bills among silhouettes, symbolizing succession planning and identifying value in leadership.
Spotting the true value in leadership is the first step in succession planning.