{"id":2999,"date":"2024-10-11T22:39:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T22:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/gcs-say-success-leading-nonlegal-functions-starts-with-humility\/"},"modified":"2024-10-11T22:39:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T22:39:50","slug":"gcs-say-success-leading-nonlegal-functions-starts-with-humility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/gcs-say-success-leading-nonlegal-functions-starts-with-humility\/","title":{"rendered":"GCs Say Success Leading Nonlegal Functions Starts With Humility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Managing a legal team is challenging enough. Imagine that one day the C-suite draws a line that puts another team or department under legal in the organizational flowchart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jessie Loong, group senior vice president and corporate secretary of Changi Airport Group in Singapore, doesn’t have to imagine such a scenario.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Loong recalls having to take aboard a team specializing in insurance issues, a\u00a0discipline with its own\u00a0complexities and peculiarities. She embarked on a crash course in insurance matters, peppering brokers with questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I guess I was really learning things on the fly,” Loong said during a panel discussion at the Association of Corporate Counsel annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, this week. She was among four\u00a0corporate lawyers who recalled how they faced the daunting challenges of managing lawyers and other professionals from multidisciplinary teams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Part of the way we’ve done it was to ask a lot\u2014a lot\u2014of questions \u2026 being very, very inquisitive,” Loong added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Panelists likened leading multidisciplinary teams to being a coach or mentor who ensures that a diverse team completes its goals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Be curious and willing to consider different views by taking the time to ask questions, actively listening to what people are saying, and empathetically delving into diverse perspectives,” states an excerpt from a slide presentation by the panel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jason Brown, vice president, general counsel and secretary of Haier’s GE Appliances division, had corporate security functions put under his umbrella.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“As a leader, you need to come with that humble sense and not to pretend that I, as a lawyer, know the best way,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That would have probably been pointless, as that team included ex-Secret Service agents and Army Rangers.\u00a0“These guys don’t need to me tell them what they’re doing,” Brown said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brown said spending time with them to ask questions and understand their values was essential. He also said that legal chiefs need to think of themselves as business leaders “who happen[] to have a degree in legal.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While a legal chief may not know how to fix a certain problem, he or she should know when something is amiss and help the team fix it, Brown said. “Guys, give me a plan. Let’s figure this out,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A key virtue of a general counsel is being transparent “that you don’t know everything,” Brown added. “Your team needs to understand that you need them.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mike Madden, group general counsel, corporate secretary and ethics officer of Equans Australia & New Zealand, agreed that the goal is to help people solve their own problems. Too often, “people drop their stuff on legal and expect a magic outcome,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the years Madden had additional nonlegal functions placed under his purview as he became known as a problem-solver. Madden said he relished delving more broadly into the business, admitting he had lots of ambition to broaden his horizons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now, sometimes he only spends about 15% of his time on pure legal issues. He sees his role as helping empower others throughout the company, which provides energy efficiency and other technical services for commercial and public building owners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Madden said one of his priorities is to ensure each team has a vision of how it fits into the broader organization. He’s a believer in benchmarking and determining whether a team member is “actually set up to succeed,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And at least every quarter Madden\u00a0beckons the geographically dispersed teams he manages to meet, helping build a sense of belonging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That’s in sharp contrast to the aloof, Machiavellian general counsel who rarely if ever interacts with multidisciplinary teams under legal, even if they’re right down the hall from each other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brown said another advantage of gathering those teams on a regular basis is to improve awareness of what those on the other side of the business are working on.\u00a0Another plus is a certain efficiency gained from having the right people in one room to get things done. And he’s eager to champion the achievements of the teams he manages to the CEO.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One downside of taking on more of a role beyond the legal department is having to spend an inordinate amount of time in meetings, said Loong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And Madden finds himself frequently reflecting on how he could be a better leader and tries to create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable in giving him feedback. Some legal chiefs would dread such a thing, but “this exercise for me is very helpful,” Madden said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And with increased scope of management comes more unpleasant personnel decisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Loong recalled times where she concluded a person wasn’t quite right for a role. “I had to rebuild the team twice,” she said. “After a while you’ve got to trust your instincts. \u2026 It’s really important for me to make sure the teams are really capable.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Panel moderator Matt Nolan, assistant general counsel for Honeywell, asked panelists what qualities they look for in hiring. Brown said intellectual curiosity is a big must for him. Madden said a sense of drive “and hunger to grow” is a virtue he seeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Loong said her diversified responsibilities involving multidisciplinary teams has yielded some perspective, such as “why is there a fence between lawyers and others?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s no longer ‘lawyers versus other professionals,'” she said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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