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GC
| WWW.GCMAGAZINE.COM
finally achieve a goal you’ve sought for longer
than you can remember. Alex’s reaction is not
at all uncommon, suggests Monique Valcour, a
professor of management at EDHEC Business
School in France, whose research focuses on
finding meaning in work. ‘So often for people
who have achieved the highest extrinsically
measurable level in their field, there is a sense of
“is this all there is?”’
Keeping yourself motivated, growing and
achieving long into your career is just as
important as charting the perfect professional
path. Moreover, it’s a job that nobody can do
for you, as management thinker Peter Drucker
famously wrote: ‘Knowledge workers must,
effectively, be their own chief executive officers.
It’s up to you to carve out your place, to know
when to change course, and to keep yourself
engaged and productive during a work life that
may span some 50 years.’ For Tom Sager, who
recently stepped down as general counsel of
DuPont, it was a primary concern as soon as
he was promoted into the role. ‘When I finally
became GC, I did not want to get stale and
rest on my laurels,’ he says. ‘That was probably
my biggest concern. You can very easily get
comfortable in those roles.’
IN THE CENTRE OF THE ACTION
Sager’s right. There’s often so much emphasis on
achieving the general counsel title, that people
don’t always anticipate the reality of being in the
job. It isn’t always as glamorous as it might seem
from the outside. Sager’s predecessor surprised
him by confessing that 85% of the general
counsel job was ‘stuff he didn’t like doing’. The
traditional general counsel role was often seen
as a career capstone, but one intended primarily
to make sure the company stayed out of trouble.
But now legal skills and the ability to build and
manage a legal department and relationships
with outside law firms are just table stakes for
being considered for the top in-house position. A
general counsel’s job is much more complicated -
and stressful - than ever before.
Not only must a GC candidate have an intangible
‘chemistry’ with the CEO and survive board-
level vetting and approval, they must also
demonstrate a wealth of business judgment
and experience across complex international
entities. Even if someone has earned the GC
title at one company, that doesn’t necessarily
open doors at companies higher up the Fortune
500 rankings. ‘[Their experience] might just be
a domestic company, or not a highly regulated
company, or a company with just one line of
business,’ recruiter Nathan explains. ‘Those
people will drop off our list because they don’t
have international experience or experience with
a complex entity.’
Ben Heineman, widely seen as elevating the
role of general counsel when he took the
top in-house job at General Electric back in
1987, understood well the daily pressures and
potential for high profile success – or failure.
When he first left legacy Sidley & Austin 27
years ago to join GE’s legal department, one
of his law firm colleagues asked him how long
his contract was. ‘One day,’ was his response.
Besides, Heineman points out, even if you
start your in-house role with a small company,
it’s possible that company will morph beyond
recognition quickly. ‘Apple’s market cap in 2001
was $7 billion,’ Heineman points out. ‘Today, it’s
something like $500 billion. What might have
looked like a small, exotic company with
a wacky leader is now the most admired
company in the world. Who knows? What
looks like a moderate company might have the
capacity for exponential growth if you hit it at
the right time.’