In early August, Corporate Counsel announced the 2017 list of Transformative Leaders—those women general counsel who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership and business acumen as they have guided their organizations through often treacherous roads to achieve success. These Transformative Leadership honorees stand out because they are business strategists, complex problem-solvers, and of course, great lawyers. And as important (especially to them) is that they are great people-leaders—they care more about the success of the team than their individual success.

Tonight we announce the winners as the honorees gather to celebrate each other at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C., during the Women, Influence & Power in Law conference (WIPL) taking place Oct 10-12.

You will see in-depth profiles of the winners later this year in the pages of Corporate Counsel. For now, get snapshots of the honorees who participated in our survey to learn their lessons in leadership.

Saskia Mermans, KBC Group SA/NV
Group General Counsel

Nominated for: Banking & Finance

Saskia Mermans has been Group General Counsel at KBC Group since 2014, and is president and member of the Council of Belgian Institute for Company Lawyers.

What is the best leadership advice you provided to a member of your legal team in the last year and why do you think it was effective?

As a leader of my team I need to ensure that I inspire the team to engage in the vision of KBC's legal team; hence it is not really about giving advice. It is about enabling a member to recognize its development areas and support the member in its growth. This growing can also mean choosing another path. This brings me to the legal expert vs leader. It seems that all aspire to becoming a leader, but sometimes this is not their strength. Enabling a member of team to understand that choosing for an expert role is not failure and seeing that afterwards that person further grows in that role is very rewarding.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you became a General Counsel?

I personally don't believe in looking back; too easy. One grows continuously and the most important is to learn also from the mistakes we all make. We need to accept our past; take it along but not be led by our past.

If you moved on from your role tomorrow, what contribution do you most want to be remembered for?

For enabling my team to be that trusted partner of the business in a VUCA world; a journey we, as a team, are in for the moment.