How GCs Can Elevate Their Organizational Impact: Insights From The L Suite

There's a fundamental question that comes up every time I speak with fellow GCs about career trajectory: Are we lawyers? Or business executives who run legal?

As Adam Wergeles, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Primer.ai and former GC and Chief Administrative Officer at Leaf Group, put it in a discussion facilitated by The L Suite, these dual identities are two sides of the same coin.

"Part of the role of GC is acknowledging that the binary between what legal does and what the business does is a false distinction," he said. In fact, the most successful GCs use their judgment and experience to benefit their organizations across both spheres.

Over the course of my conversation with Wergeles and Kim Wilford, Chief Legal Officer at GoFundMe, we explored how GCs can expand their influence to become true strategic partners within their organizations. Below is a recap of our discussion and some of the most illuminating takeaways.

Key Takeaways

• Develop a deep understanding of your company's operations by engaging with as many teams as possible, being a fly on the wall at meetings, and digging into the company's financials.

• Regularly evaluate your skills and aspirations. Understand your strengths and growth areas to better position yourself for new opportunities.

• Be open to taking on roles or projects outside the traditional legal sphere.

• The leadership skills you demonstrate by managing a high-performing team can transfer to other business functions — and position you for larger roles.

• Both your career goals and the company's needs are constantly in flux. Be adaptable, willing to take on new challenges, and open to unexpected opportunities.

Understand the Fundamentals of the Business

The first step toward thinking like an executive involves developing a deep understanding of what makes your company tick. This goes beyond merely grasping the financials, and often involves familiarizing yourself with other teams' domains. For example, product managers can provide invaluable insights into the company's offerings and future direction. Meanwhile, the sales team represents the frontline of revenue generation, offering crucial perspectives on customer needs and market dynamics.

Wilford recounted how, despite knowing next to nothing about semiconductors when she first joined KLA-Tencor in a previous role, she deeply immersed herself in the business by sitting in on sales team meetings and connecting with the business development team. She also studied the company's 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and other public filings to gain insights into the business.

This hands-on approach not only helped build her credibility, but also positioned her to identify opportunities where legal expertise could drive business value. "I sat in as many meetings as possible as a fly on the wall to understand the different divisions, their pain points, and how I could support them," she said. "Regardless of what my title was or what function I had, my focus was on learning and gaining trust of my cross functional colleagues."

Get Brutally Honest About Your Skills, Limitations, and Aspirations

As you gain a deeper understanding of the business, it's also crucial to know your own skills, limitations, and aspirations for your career — and apply them to the current realities of your organization. "If you know where your blind spots are, it can really enhance your ability to broaden your opportunities," said Wergeles.

Specific questions to ask yourself include:

• What are your core skills and adjacent competencies?

• In what areas are you less experienced or confident?

• What are the primary issues currently confronting the company?

• Are you positioned to handle those issues, and if not, how can you address that knowledge gap?

• Do you want to stay primarily in a legal role, or move into other areas of the company?

Wilford had to conduct just such an assessment after she left KLA to join WageWorks, a startup dealing in consumer-directed benefits like HSAs and FSAs — another arena she knew little about at the time. She found herself back at the beginning of the learning curve.

"The team was small, and again, I had to roll up my sleeves mentally and really sit with the people on the customer ops side to figure out what and how the business was doing." In these discussions and broader company analysis, it became clear that pending legislation posed an existential threat to the company's business model. This led her to become comfortable with an entirely new skill: lobbying. Wilford's efforts in this arena not only helped the business survive, but clearly demonstrated legal's impact beyond deals and contracts.

Wergeles also has experience stepping into an expanded role after a major organizational shift. When he first joined Leaf, he was initially hired to be a GC at a public company. After the organization was acquired, he became the Chief Administrative Officer overseeing not only legal, but also HR, comms, and corporate development. "I think those opportunities presented themselves because of my willingness to engage in the necessary work of understanding what was needed at the time, but also honestly assessing my own abilities to function well in those roles," he said.

Seek Opportunities for Growth and Improvement

In order to expand your role beyond traditional legal responsibilities, you'll need to step out of your comfort zone. Seek out 360-degree feedback or coaching opportunities related to leadership development. And, if you're offered an opportunity to lead or join a cross-functional team for a period, seize it. Even if you eventually return to a more traditional legal role, you'll bring invaluable insights and perspective back to your work. You'll also be better equipped to support that team, having been in their seat and experienced their challenges firsthand.

Some areas that sit adjacent to legal and might require GC oversight or involvement include:

• Functions at the intersection of legal, finance, and HR (e.g. stock option administration)

• Business development

• M&A

• Risk and compliance

• Trust & Safety

• Operations

• Regulatory affairs

Develop a High-Performing Legal Team

In my experience, the skills required to build a high-performing legal team — identifying great talent, addressing underperformance, setting clear goals, and holding people accountable — are highly transferable to other business functions. A strong track record of leadership within your own team also positions you well to take on other roles within the organization.

What's more, developing your team frees you up to focus on the parts of your role you genuinely enjoy. Wilford noted that at GoFundMe, she manages a legal team of seven, which allows her to focus less on day-to-day legal matters and more on high-level strategy — a pivot she finds fulfilling and intellectually stimulating.

Be Flexible and Evolve with the Company

When you think about the Venn diagram of what you want for your career and what the company needs to be successful, both those circles are continuously evolving. In other words, that sweet-spot middle area is a moving target. Flexibility and adaptability are key.

Sometimes, embracing a flexible mindset means letting go of responsibilities you enjoy or taking on tasks that seem less glamorous. "If you're looking to expand into something other than legal, you have to be willing to do the basic, unsexy stuff and get people comfortable with your competence — then you can go after the things that you might find more interesting," said Wilford.

Opportunities may also arise unexpectedly, whether due to company growth, leadership changes, or shifting market conditions. There could even be a "right place, right time" element to the opportunities that cross your path. So, be prepared to pounce when the moment presents itself. "We all want to believe success is a function of hard work and smarts — but we also know it's a function of luck in large measure," said Wilford. "That said, I think you can make your own luck by being flexible, approaching everyone and every issue with curiosity, and building relationships of deep trust."

The key is to remain focused on adding value to the organization, wherever that path may lead. In doing so, you'll find yourself naturally chipping away at the lawyer-executive false binary — and proving that the most effective GCs embody both.

For GCs looking to advance their careers and connect with peers facing similar challenges, The L Suite can offer valuable resources — apply to join today.

About The L Suite

Called “the gold standard for legal peer groups” and “one of the best professional growth investments an in-house attorney can make,” The L Suite is an invitation-only community for in-house legal executives. Over 2,000 members have access to 300+ world-class events per year, a robust online platform where leaders ask and answer pressing questions and share exclusive resources, and industry- and location-based salary survey data.

For more information, visit lsuite.co.