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A PATH TO SUCCESS

The advisory council has developed a core set of criteria that we believe are important for any candidate to be a strong GC.

This criteria is subjective and based on our collective experiences. Everyone’s path to the GC chair is different, and likely no candidate has all of the enumerated criteria before being tapped to move to the GC chair. Likewise, each GC search is different and what one company, CEO or Board deems critical, “must have” expertise or direct experience, other companies may discount completely.

Nonetheless, we believe these core criteria are instructive to candidates in evaluating their readiness and gaps. We hope you find this information useful.

IDEAL CORE CRITERIA

Ready now candidates for Fortune 1000 and equivalent GC roles possess each of the following three core criteria as demonstrated through most (but not necessarily all) of the factors under each core criteria.

Strong Executive Presence and Interpersonal Skills
Skills that lead to an ability to build a Trusted Advisor relationship with the C-suite and Board Gravitas, composure, charisma, and a style that projects confidence to C-suite and Board.

This may be demonstrated through:
- Prior experience working directly with C-suite officers and members of the Board.
- Demonstrated collaboration with senior business leaders and effectively managing relationships at this level.
- Strong Oral and Written Communication and Presentation Skills Ability to communicate complex issues clearly and succinctly, often to leaders who are non-lawyers.
- Ability to influence others and negotiate differences/difficult topics.
- Strong Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
- Able to recognize, understand and manage own emotions and to understand the emotions of others in order to influence decision making Strong “people skills”
Significant Technical Legal Expertise and Experience
- Demonstrated subject matter expertise (typically from having practiced for 15+ years) in one or more of the following areas and exposure to the others: Corporate Governance, Securities, M&A, IP/Technology, or Litigation Management.
- Demonstrated understanding of the role of corporate secretary, corporate governance and board functioning.
- Solid legal training at an AmLaw 200 law firm.
- Public company in-house legal experience is a plus.
- Strong Critical thinking that is clear and rational.
- Management Skills and People Management Acumen – demonstrated ability to lead, manage and motivate a team and potential to manage global teams.
- Financial acumen – understands financial statements and financial metrics used to evaluate business results.
- Global exposure – ability to identify global risks and opportunities. Empathetic to cultural and ethnic differences.
Demonstrated excellent judgment
- Ability to leverage expertise and experience to provide excellent counsel to CEO and Board on important matters impacting the company, especially under considerable time constraints.
- Comfortable as a Generalist – has breadth and depth of experience to solve problems in a variety of legal areas and business situations and to offer advice and counsel without the benefit of all information.
- Ability to Manage Change and Uncertainty – ability to cope with complexity and turbulence in a changing corporate environment.
- Understand the business well enough to anticipate issues and apply strong problem solving skills to develop creative solutions.