July 2025

You’re not alone in feeling alone as a GC.

by David Curtain

I remember when I realised the role as head of a legal team was different from what I’d experienced before. I’d just moved from being part of an in-house team to leading one. It felt like a step up, and was something I’d been working towards. But not long into this new role, I felt something I hadn’t expected: disconnection. I didn’t have anyone I could really talk to about what was going on.

In many ways, that’s the nature of the job. Your direct reports aren’t your peers, and executive colleagues don’t fully understand your work. You sit somewhere in the middle. And when something’s not working — with the business, the team, or yourself — there often isn’t a natural place to take it. That gap can leave you carrying a lot on your own.

Lawyers are trained to be the expert. To have the answers, go deep into detail, and own the outcome. But that changes when you’re in charge of the whole department. You spend less time on the tools and more time enabling others. You move from ‘having the answers’ to creating the conditions for others to succeed. It’s a different skill set with a different kind of pressure. The habits that help you succeed as a lawyer can get in the way of leading well. And the solutions you reach for when things feel off can make things worse.

That sense of disconnection can lead GCs to take on non-legal responsibilities outside their comfort zone, often without the support or training they need. I once took on the role of leading a regulatory team alongside the legal team I was running, and found myself managing compliance specialists who worked very differently to lawyers. I didn’t have the same technical grounding, and I was already stretched. Now I was managing unfamiliar work without support.

I couldn’t be across the detail in the same way I was accustomed to. As a lawyer, you’re trained to go deep and stay close to the work. As a leader, you have to let go and trust others. That shift can feel exposing. Instead of feeling more valued, I ended up feeling stretched thin and stressed.

Culture plays a big role in how connected or isolated you feel. I’ve been in organisations where the values didn’t align with mine. I knew it wasn’t right, but staying felt easier than dealing with the disruption of leaving. So I tried to make it work — a lot of people do. But when the culture doesn’t fit, the disconnection deepens. Over time, it wears you down, even if you’re good at hiding it.

I hear stories like these from GCs all the time. Many feel isolated, frustrated or quietly overwhelmed. Most hesitate to say it out loud. There’s still a strong message in this profession: don’t complain, just push through. So many GCs assume, wrongly, they’re expected to carry on in silence.

Something shifted for me when I first met with a small group of GCs. At first, people were cautious. But the conversation deepened. We started sharing openly — not just ideas, but the real stuff. The pressures, the doubts, the parts of the job no one talks about. I hadn’t realised how common those feelings were. After 18 years in the profession, I’d never seen that kind of openness. It left a lasting impression.

That moment eventually led me to help create a range of forums for GCs to connect and share. After these sessions, people often say how much they value the chance to drop their guard and talk openly about what they’re facing. Sometimes, just having a space to be heard by people who understand is enough to shift something.

We don’t always need to fix it straight away. Just naming it helps. Saying, ‘This is hard.’ Hearing, ‘It’s like that for me too.’ That alone can shift something. But it doesn’t have to stop there. Once it’s out in the open, you can talk it through, gain fresh perspectives and often find a better way forward together.

If you’re feeling it, you’re not the only one. And you don’t have to carry it alone. Reach out to a GC you trust. Talk to someone outside your organisation. Or compare notes with someone in a similar role. Often, it’s not about solving the problem. It’s about connecting with others who understand your work. That’s what makes the difference.

This is one of the reasons the team at Front Foot brings legal leaders together. We create space to share perspectives, exchange ideas and support one another.

Because being the GC doesn’t have to mean going it alone.