Sep 15, 2026 · 36 min · 9 segments
Generosity is a value many law firm owners want to prioritize, but what happens when that generosity is not supported by a healthy business? In this episode, Melissa explores why good intentions are…
Melissa ShanahanHost
We are going to talk about something that I think many of you need to hear and to think about for yourselves and just approach something maybe slightly differently.
And I guess if I had to title this, it would be generosity has to be engineered.
And if it's not engineered, then the business itself cannot actually handle it.
Why this is coming up, I've been wanting to do this episode for a long time, probably over a year.
I've thought about different ways to share this and different ways to approach it.
But just recently, this all clicked into place for me, not only because I had a couple back to back instances, where in the past, there's consistently I see what I'm going to be talking about today, I see it, and we have to address it.
But there's been more sort of clumped together that I've had to have these conversations with owners and come up with a game plan.
And the second is I took a trip that on that trip, I learned something and saw something.
I'm hoping that this lands in a really great way for you guys to help you figure out one foot in front of the other, what needs to change, if anything, when you listen to this.
so that you can be as generous as you want to be, but that the business can stay healthy, the business can handle the generosity that you're putting forth to the team.
So I'm going to start with just addressing the idea of wanting to be generous with your team.
I think much of that stems from the firms that you came from before you started your firm, you probably experienced something that you wished was different and you think should have been different and that there should have been more generosity, whether it's through the amount that your company paid for premiums for health insurance or whether they offered health insurance, whether it was the bonuses, whether it was the hourly or production requirements.
There's all different kinds of ways that people can be generous to their teams.
The firm can be generous to their teams, but it has to be engineered and it can't just be put into motion.
We are going to talk about something that I think many of you need to hear and to think about for yourselves and just approach something maybe slightly differently.
And I guess if I had to title this, it would be generosity has to be engineered.
And if it's not engineered, then the business itself cannot actually handle it.
Why this is coming up, I've been wanting to do this episode for a long time, probably over a year.
I've thought about different ways to share this and different ways to approach it.
But just recently, this all clicked into place for me, not only because I had a couple back to back instances, where in the past, there's consistently I see what I'm going to be talking about today, I see it, and we have to address it.
But there's been more sort of clumped together that I've had to have these conversations with owners and come up with a game plan.
And the second is I took a trip that on that trip, I learned something and saw something.
I'm hoping that this lands in a really great way for you guys to help you figure out one foot in front of the other, what needs to change, if anything, when you listen to this.
so that you can be as generous as you want to be, but that the business can stay healthy, the business can handle the generosity that you're putting forth to the team.
So I'm going to start with just addressing the idea of wanting to be generous with your team.
I think much of that stems from the firms that you came from before you started your firm, you probably experienced something that you wished was different and you think should have been different and that there should have been more generosity, whether it's through the amount that your company paid for premiums for health insurance or whether they offered health insurance, whether it was the bonuses, whether it was the hourly or production requirements.
There's all different kinds of ways that people can be generous to their teams.
The firm can be generous to their teams, but it has to be engineered and it can't just be put into motion.
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