So Much To Say: A Legal Podcast For People

Business development doesn't happen in a vacuum - it happens inside a culture.

In this mini episode of So Much To Say: A Legal Podcast For People, Megan Senese, shares a deeply personal story about interviewing for a new job just weeks after becoming a first time mother and how this is actually a larger conversation about workplace culture, drive and ambition.

Megan explores why talented people don't stop caring in unhealthy environments - they often care even more. But when people don't feel valued, trusted, or safe to contribute, even the strongest business development strategies begin to break down.

Who this episode is for:
  • Lawyers working in environments where they don't feel valued
  • Firm leaders looking to build stronger cultures and stronger business development
  • Professionals wondering whether their workplace is limiting their growth
  • Anyone trying to reconcile ambition with well-being

Episode takeaways:
  • Whether you believe it or not, workplace culture directly impacts business development
  • Feeling undervalued often causes people to become more guarded NOT less ambitious
  • Creativity, collaboration, and relationship-building require psychological safety
  • Sometimes ambition looks like leaving somewhere or something
  • Sustainable business development begins with environments where people feel seen, trusted, and supported

What to do if your environment is holding you back:
  • Pay attention to how your workplace makes you feel: Your environment shapes how confidently you show up.
  • Recognize that culture affects business development: People build relationships more naturally when they feel valued.
  • Stop mistaking survival for success: Working harder isn't always the answer.
  • Choose environments where you can contribute fully: Your best work happens where your voice is welcomed.
  • Remember that leaving isn't giving up: Sometimes it's the first step toward building the career you actually want.

Bring this conversation to your firm:

At stage, we believe business development isn't just about teaching lawyers what to do, it's about helping firms create cultures where people feel confident enough to do it.

Because relationships grow where people feel valued.

If you or your firm are looking for guidance when it comes to integrating effective business development strategies for your team, we’d love to hear from you.

Love So Much To Say? Let us know! Drop a review, give us 5 stars in your favorite podcast app, and tell us what made you laugh, think, or just go “yep, that’s me.” Every review helps us reach more awesome humans who want to make legal…well, human. 

Creators and Guests

Host
Jennifer Ramsey
Host
Megan Senese

What is So Much To Say: A Legal Podcast For People?

Welcome to So Much To Say: A Legal Podcast For People where we explore the behind-the-scenes of work, law, life, and everything in between. We’re your hosts, business development and legal marketing coaches Jennifer Ramsey and Megan Senese, and we’re here to showcase the human side of the legal world, from marketing and consulting to the very real challenges of balancing ambitious careers with being human. This isn’t your typical, dry legal show. Instead, So Much To Say is a human-centered leadership, marketing, and culture podcast through the lens of law. We bring you real stories, candid conversations, and thoughtful insights that remind you that outside of being a lawyer or legal marketer, what makes you human matters too. So whether you’re navigating billable hours, building meaningful relationships, redefining success, or simply trying to stay human in a high-performance profession, this podcast is for you.
Stay human. Stay inspired. Namaste (or whatever keeps you human).

[00:00:00] Megan Senese: People will feel comfortable building relationships internally and externally when they feel valued. You're more willing to take risks, to share ideas, to introduce each other, to let people see who you really are if the culture allows for that. Welcome to Minis with Megan on So Much To Say: A Legal Podcast For People.
[00:00:24] I was on my first maternity leave when I interviewed for a new role, and I haven't really shared this story because there's definitely this running trope about moms not returning back from after their parental leave. And I so badly wanted to find a new job before I left for my parental leave, and it just didn't work out in that way.
[00:00:46] And so I was shoving my body into the suit that I really thought was going to fit, and arrived at the interview and really was hoping that nobody would notice that I was a new mom, that my body didn't look the way that I knew it did. They didn't know that, but I did. And no one would know it was the first time I had left my baby home for an extended period of time.
[00:01:10] It was the first time I had climbed subway stairs after having given birth. And a lot of people will say that motherhood changes you. Some of us like to pretend that it doesn't. The only thing that I can really speak to is how I felt, and I knew in that moment that I was no longer going to tolerate the toxic workplace that I had endured up until that point.
[00:01:33] Becoming a parent really changed what I was willing to accept, and if I was gonna spend all of that time away from my child, then it better be at a firm that at least pretended to care about what I contributed, the opinions, the value, the work product that I provided. And a lot of the time we talk about business development as these external things.
[00:01:58] Go to the event, find something that works for you, raise your voice, become comfortable. But if your environment, the firm, the company, does not allow you to do any of those things, regardless of how comfortable or not you feel, it almost doesn't matter. And so I have this memory of me sh- trying to shove my body into this suit, and it's something that comes up a lot of, like, how insane it felt that she was just probably six weeks old and I was accepting interviews.
[00:02:32] My ambition didn't change when I became a mother. It accelerated My tolerance for bullshit decreased. Your environment shapes whether you feel comfortable doing any of these business development activities, whether you can trust your voice, whether you feel safe to post things online, whether you are comfortable being visible.
[00:02:58] If the firm and the environment around you are not conducive to doing any of those things, your business development is not going to thrive. A firm can tell people to try to develop a book of business all day long, but if the culture repeatedly makes you feel small or overlooked or replaceable, this is beyond just a workplace dynamic.
[00:03:21] Then that does become a business development problem. People will feel comfortable building relationships internally and externally when they feel valued, when they are being generous, when they feel safe to be vulnerable. That's when you can be more generous. You're more willing to take risks, to share ideas, to introduce each other, to let people see who you really are if the culture allows for that.
[00:03:46] Once I realized that I was not going to tolerate that kind of workplace culture anymore, I could not talk myself back into accepting it. I didn't get the job that I interviewed for, you know, six weeks postpartum, but I left three months later. Sometimes leaving is what ambition actually looks like. I didn't need a career pivot.
[00:04:08] I didn't need to become a new person. I had to stop giving my time and energy and talent to people who really just didn't value what I brought. And so I decided to go somewhere that did. And that firm was where I met my business partner, Jen Ramsay. So we spend a lot of time talking about business development as something external, and we talk about how to make it sustainable, and we talk about how to make it comfortable for you.
[00:04:34] But it also is an inward reflection of who you want to be, who you want to grow into, and finally accepting that not every single environment is going to work for you.