Mid-career partners can begin quietly wondering whether they should stay where they are or explore a move. This isn't driven by crisis or failure. It's driven by subtle shifts, such as declining energy for a platform that once fit well, strategy drift inside the firm, client relationships that feel different, or internal politics that have grown wearisome. Yet most partners stall making a decision because they don't want to make the wrong call and the ambiguity keeps them stuck.

In today's episode, I walk through the five stages I see that partners typically move through when confronting the stay-or-go question: detecting early signals without overreacting, running a true cost-benefit audit, separating fact from extreme thinking about portability, pressure-testing the market and assumptions, and exploring parallel stay and go plans. 

I share the specific diagnostics I suggest partners consider, the risks partners often underestimate, the structural problems that rarely improve with time v. the irritations that can usually be changed, and how to evaluate the potential options through financial, client-continuity, and cultural-stability filters. If you're a partner feeling the need to examine your place in your practice or platform, this episode helps you approach that crossroads with clarity, data, and control.

At a Glance
00:00 Why mid-career partners begin questioning whether to stay or go
02:44 Stage 1: Quiet doubt and the early signals partners tend to overlook
03:54 A three-question diagnostic for evaluating how to initially frame what may be going on 
05:39 Stage 2: The cost-benefit audit and quantifying what staying v. going actually buys you
07:18 How politics, write-offs, and strategic stagnation erode partner value
08:42 Distinguishing temporary irritations from structural misalignment
10:10 Stage 3: Counterfactuals and why partners get stuck in best-case and worst-case assumptions
10:55 Reality-checking which clients would follow you and which would not
11:24 How to quietly stress-test the market without signaling intent
12:37 Stage 4: The real risks of leaving: portability, client transfer, compensation, and culture
14:19 Identifying what must change for you to stay, and how to design parallel stay and go plans
15:35 The three filters for evaluating any move: financial survivability, client continuity, and cultural stability
16:25 Stage 5: Why this decision can feel like an identity crisis and how to regain agency

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Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting?

Here are ways to reach out to her:

www.lauraterrell.com 

laura@lauraterrell.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ 

Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast