AI is an unbelievably promising, exciting asset. But if we’re not careful, it can also be a dehumanizing force.

This has always been an issue, but now, society has an incredibly powerful tool that arguably removes a *lot* of the older, more callous financial incentives to “care.” What a scary, seductive thing for those who don’t actively choose to prioritize it.

We already see that in some workplace stories. People being less cared for, their personhood less valued. People burning out because all that really matters is their output. People being mistreated bc ultimately, they’re “replaceable.”

Narrator: there was no strategy

“hot”

💙💙💙

Oh, and just so we’re clear: I’m not trying to paint this rosy picture of “be yourself and everything will work out”! You *will* lose prospects for this. There *will* be people who choose a milquetoast existence, and judge you for not. It’ll feel uncomfortable at times. But boy, is it WORTH it.

This job is, more than anything, about human connection - the “it’s a people business” line is literally said to death. So, be a person. Don’t ever give that up. You will be a better attorney for it.

Are some people not going to *love* that you’re a human person who isn’t a mirror image of them? Probably. But others will love you for it, and you’ll have much more fun working with them during this funky blink-of-an-eye called life.

This is a belief that many in our industry have taken *way* too far, IMO. And while people are obviously free to believe what they want for themselves, I’ll never be okay with this messaging being foisted onto young attorneys as though it’s some indisputable truth. It’s not. It’s really really not.

This “all costs” mentality is, in my opinion, so costly. It normalizes a type of tunnel vision, where your individuality - your human spark - is suddenly some kind of existential threat. Suddenly, you start choosing silence, less authenticity, because something else is “more important.”

There seems to be a pervasive belief that, in order to be a successful attorney long term, you need to be good at biz dev (reasonably true, esp in my line of work). And being good at biz dev requires becoming this total chameleon so you can, at all costs, “win the business.”