At MSL, attention can be fleeting, and curiosity may fade quickly. Anna, a mid-level associate at MSL, had experienced moments like this before—check-ins after someone like Sam left, conversations that sparked and then vanished.
Later that day, a partner stayed on a call instead of moving to the next meeting. He asked how the matter had felt from her perspective, what had surprised her, and what she’d like more exposure to next time.
Not in a mentoring way or with a promise attached. It was simply… interest. Anna thanked him and responded cautiously. She didn’t want to read too much into it.
She rode the elevator down that evening, reflecting on how effortlessly she had learned to do this and how skilled she was at managing her expectations and keeping her hopes in check.
At twenty-seven, she was adept at navigating ambiguity.
She stopped at her apartment before heading to dinner with her boyfriend. Her black cat followed her from room to room, waiting by the door as she changed, brushing against her leg as if to remind her he’d been alone all day. She refilled his bowl, rinsing the empty can and recycling it on autopilot.
She noticed things.
Patterns, absences, and what wasn’t being said.
At work, she was doing well. Partners trusted her judgment, and clients responded to her calm, grounded presence. On paper, she was exactly where she was supposed to be.
But no one had ever sat down to explain what came next. The message had always been implicit: bill lots of hours, don’t complain, and wait.
Anna looked at the partner ranks and didn’t see a future she could step into without changing herself completely. The men seemed shaped by a different era. The women, impressive and formidable, had built their careers under rules Anna didn’t recognize and wasn’t sure she wanted to adopt.
And then there were the other silences.
There were no conversations about sustainability. No signs indicated that the firm considered its footprint, responsibility, or the future it was helping to shape. She didn’t even know if MSL recycled.
She worried that raising the issue would mark her as naïve, distracted, and not taken seriously.
The thought felt uncomfortably familiar because it reflected her broader uncertainty about herself.
Anna lay awake that night, her cat curled against her, thinking about the question she hadn’t answered out loud.
Is there a future for me at MSL, or am I just wasting my time?
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