Part 2: What should be the purpose of leadership today?
We all have a sense of what a leader is – perhaps a parent, a teacher, a police officer, a boss, a politician; but in our still male orientated world a leader is likely to be “strong” and “decisive”. Often they will be described as “ruthless”. It is quite hard not to feel excluded from… More
Part 3: What do we each have to do to make our leadership contribution?
Our leadership contribution is indelibly entwined with our leadership purpose and must be something that we can measure to be credible. In the next post I will describe how we can measure our contribution, but in this post I want to talk about how we actually go about making our contribution. When the selection process… More
Part 4: How do we measure the value of our contribution?
The holy grail of value is often considered to be how we measure it. Too often value is asserted as if talent alone makes a difference. In this post I want to focus on the hard reality that talent alone is never enough. A difference has to be made and we must be able to… More
Part 5: How do we help each other fulfil our potential to lead?
In this final post in my Perspectives on Leadership Series I want to focus on how we support and encourage each other to fulfil our leadership potential. It is often said that leadership is a lonely role. It does not have to be like this; together we can find a much better way. I believe… More
How should we lead
To be a leader as an in-house lawyer today is to be faced with a bewildering array of ideas, strategies and influences. Reports are written with grim regularity, it is impossible to read them all. Conferences are organised with grim regularity, it is impossible to attend them all. Consultants always have the next great idea… More
Fixing before disrupting
It didn’t take long and now “disruption” has entered the lexicon of paradigm shifting scene-shifters. A whirligig for every new idea* (*includes every not new idea) ensuring nothing is taken to market without its very own bullshit badge. I know I am in danger, if not long past the point, of being considered a grumpy… More
Flexible working, not bent out of shape
Flexible working is the single biggest driver for change in the legal profession – greater than any tech innovation, greater than any disruptive influence from new legal services providers and far greater than changing the hourly rate charging model. Law firms and businesses employing lawyers in in-house legal teams must either embrace flexible working practices… More
High performance culture – no thank you
“We want people who work well in a high performance culture” said the headhunter. My heart sank. One day I am going to set up a recruitment business and when I do this will be a typical role specification: “This role requires patience, some courage and an indigestion remedy. The brand suggests a highly successful… More
General Counsel means General Counsel
What is the purpose of a General Counsel? At the risk of saying something that sounds unhelpfully like “General Counsel means General Counsel” I have spent a lot of time over very many years considering how people in this role should define their purpose and articulate their contribution. I am aware that short articles like… More
A letter to my father
I would like to share something precious; it is a letter I wrote in July last year. I want to share it because it is helping me now more than I could ever have imagined at the time. I think it might be helpful for other people too. It is not a sad thing, but… More