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September 19, 2004

In Calm Weather, All Ships Have Good Captains

This pithy article is about leadership in the context of General Counsels, but leadership is leadership and the same observations would apply to practice group managers, Executive Directors, and for that matter CFO's and CIO's.  Why then do I fear its insights go against the grain of many lawyers' professional training?  Because it urges you to:

  • make decisions and take stands;
  • accept responsibility for bad news but share credit for good news; and
  • don't isolate yourself on the executive floor.

In other words, risk-averse doesn't cut it.  "Thinking like a lawyer" has its place (particularly on finals in law school and bar exams), but the leader of an enterprise has to, instead, "think different."

Posted by Bruce at September 19, 2004 4:55 PM | TrackBack
Posted to Leadership

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