Lenovo GC Mike O'Neill sets out what it takes for a 21st century legal head to stay at the top of their game

In between the rush and flow of working as general counsel of Lenovo, a global computer company with heritage in both the US (IBM PC) and China (Legend Computers) and operations worldwide, I've realised that there are some basic principles that guide my work. I call these tenets – some of them I've learned along the way, and some I am still learning every day. Let me share those at the top of my list.

We don't get paid for what we DO – we get paid for what we get DONE

This is the single most important rule for a successful in-house role. In my company, we often talk in terms of 'done' and 'not done'. This is the ultimate summary status. It is often all the client has the time or inclination to hear. It is a hard discipline to stick to in my function and is undermined by legal education, which is fraught with nuanced facts and precedent applied and analysed to a legal conclusion. We sometimes preamble and then caveat in the same mouthful.

It is no surprise that outside service providers bill by the hour and not the results. But adhering to this tenet is often what makes the difference between business partnering (what my clients want) and functional support (the last phylogeny of legal engagement). If I had a mantra for in-house counsel, this would be it.

Get an understanding – set the parameters

One of the key things you learn as you move up the organisational ladder is the importance of understanding the drivers of the situation and the players involved before jumping in to work out a resolution.

By applying a legal resolution to a dispute or a transaction, you are often attempting to apply rationality to an emotional situation. If we push our chosen resolution when the timing is bad or beyond the boundaries of the parties' comfort zone, it can cause emotive behaviour that is tough to reverse. I try to ask questions like: what is the 'must have' that the other side needs to take away? What can't we lose? It is very important to recognise what the limits are in a dispute. Trespassing those limits may drive irrational behaviour.

This is not as simple as it sounds. The person on the other side of the table will often have a broad position, but if you drill it down, it typically narrows into one or two things the person cannot accept. They will scorch the earth to avoid those two things. Sometimes the best way to ferret that information out of them is to tell them what your position is: why you must have A or you cannot have X. 

The more often I do this, the more I recognise that the nature of our profession is not just to advocate and espouse, but often to get the other party to articulate honestly what they really need.

For the head of legal, issues can sometimes work their way up the organisation, and by that time there are usually entrenched positions and aligned constituencies, with real losses and gains on the table. You must find a way to balance these as quickly as possible.

Gain trust

You cannot operate effectively in your team without an environment of trust. It is first and foremost:  a key tenet. Trust usually takes a long time to build, and the general counsel does not have the luxury of time. You must trust others in order for them to trust you.

I was lucky to be able to fill my organisation with people whom I deeply trust, and did this in such a way as not to create career bottlenecks or frustration in the organisation. After networking and working with many people, I was ready to bring on board people who I trusted and knew could grow with the organisation. It is essential to trust the skills of others and have faith in their honesty and judgement. It does not mean they won't make mistakes – we all do. But you must share the trust or the synergy of the team is severely limited.

My relationships with outside counsel mirror what I seek internally. If the main focus regarding your outside counsel is cost, you are defeated from almost every definition of partnering.

I want outside counsel who buy into a long-term relationship. Sometimes there won't be a lot for them to do, but I expect them to continue to invest time into understanding my business and my industry. Sometimes I have to let them know: "Here's what I have, money-wise, and here's all I can give you to do." When we reach the same level of trust I have with my in-house team, my outside counsel become an extension of the legal department.

Set the agenda

Every general counsel approaches the agenda differently based on their personality, but you must set it. There is more work in any given day than you can humanly handle. Identify the issues that have the potential to go nuclear, and put your attention there first.

My priority has been to establish process. There is a cadence, a drumbeat, to the issues that arise in any organisation, and there must be consistent response and forward movement. My deputy, who runs the legal operations, really understands how to structure and maintain a great process. It is a real luxury for me.

I'm good at juggling – you have to be to do these kinds of jobs. It is a relief and a necessity that the top talent on my team manages the disciplines of process.

As a leader, there is really no way to control the schedule. Despite your best attempts to set one, something inevitably comes up to rearrange the whole day, sometimes the whole week. You have to maintain structure and process for the legal team, and at the same time accept that your own days will not be like that.

Expect compromises

If you don't always have control over your own days, how will you find any work-life balance? Let's be honest about it: if you want to go for the gold, you have to redefine the question. Not once in the dozens of interviews Michael Phelps gave during the Beijing Olympics did a journalist ask how he kept a work-life balance. There was no balance at that moment. He was dedicated to a singular goal and therefore sacrificed other things.

Great feats are not accom-plished by introducing a lot of life balance. You have to define the importance of what you are trying to accomplish within the context of your life at that time. Then you decide what you have to give up, at least for a while. Being the general counsel of a major global company is not a nine-to-five job. If you want to play at that level, you have to set priorities.

Forget being the hero

A tenet to remember: if you want to lead, you have to enjoy other people's successes. You don't really get to enjoy your own very much. I truly believe I have the best legal department in the world, and it is irritating to some of my functional brethren. In my enthusiasm, they think I'm saying that my team is better than theirs.

When you're the general counsel, if everything goes right, it was supposed to. And if it goes wrong, it was the leadership's fault. At the top level, if you are saving a situation at the last minute, you are probably leaving too much risk at every level of the organisation. Those kinds of victories will be won at a level or two beneath you. Enjoy them,  point them out and cheerlead the teams, and feed off their enthusiasm.

Never underestimate the importance of culture I had the good fortune to get solid cross-cultural experience as head of legal for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Honeywell.

It was wonderful training. In Europe, you are forced to deal with cultural issues every day. Cultural pride is strong in countries like France, Germany and Spain, and it is far from disappearing.

To do business and practise law, cultural understanding and respect are paramount. You must operate within the cultural constructs because if you don't, even the greatest legal solution in the world may simply not be heard.

I learned my lesson early about the value of restraint. The law is a very blunt instrument in its finality, and it gets very tough in the end game. In litigation, the step functions become draconian. The real power, like any other sort of organisational power, is in exercising influence and getting something done without having to pull the trigger.

In a multicultural and multinational environment, exercising that power is far more complex. Ability and influence are guided by an understanding of available and appropriate behaviour. You have to get to know the typical business or legal construct for the circumstance.

In the 1990s when I was in Europe, Americans made some big mistakes by coming in and saying, "We're running things here, let me show you how to do it." I was lucky to have local colleagues who encouraged me to work on position and persona: to seek to understand, as opposed to resolve.

Now working with a company with major interests in China, the most difficult part is admitting ignorance of the history and cultural drivers. Many of us have our point of reference in the West. Even though I am an American, I lived in a multicultural group, the majority of whom came from Western Europe, and it is easier for me to understand those cultural constructs.

I'm always astounded by how much more the Chinese understand my culture than I understand theirs. I have been reading the abridged history of China – it's two volumes long, each with 36 chapters. The fundamentals of Chinese ways of thinking are difficult to grasp  and far more nuanced than what I have studied in the West. There is much written about what Plato meant. Understanding Chinese philosophies is a journey, and a difficult one.

I've been in this position less than 18 months, and I realise that the big challenge in China is to have the humility to recognise what I don't know. We cannot assume that lessons learned elsewhere will apply in China; or at least, they certainly will not apply in the same way. Language is a strong barrier, and time zones make it tough. There is a much steeper curve to building trust, both within the organisation and with adversaries. It's a work in progress and I find it exhilarating.

Get fit for global

One of the most surprising lessons I've learned is that you need to be in shape physically to lead a global function. That is one part of the balance you can't forgo. The travel and the hours will destroy your health if you're not careful about food, drink, sleep and exercise.

I sent my last email at 12.30 last night, so I knew today I wouldn't wake up at 5am and hit the gym. But I will work out sometime today, because if I don't keep myself in shape, my schedule will run me down.

The days of jumping on a plane and trying all the wines are over. I get on the plane and sleep. Forget the great hotel with all its luxuries – you won't indulge in any of it. Book a hotel with a great pool or gym; it's an antidote to hours inside cabs and offices. Air travel is anything but seamless. Last week I was stuck in Narita in the middle of the night without a functioning BlackBerry or phone. I wasn't even supposed to be in Japan, and I wandered around trying to find out how to make a call. Many miles later, I spent a few hours in the pool to de-stress and re-energise, which gave me new juice for the next day. To be able to go with the flow, you have to stay physically fit.

Learn new lessons

In the end, the key tenet is to be open to learning new things. You surely will, so you might as well welcome it. Keep questioning your assumptions, keep listening.

There is a great Chinese saying: "May you live in interesting times." Well, here we are, living in unprecedented times. In the last year our global economy has changed beyond our wildest imaginings. Capitalism is being redefined. No doubt about it, we live in interesting times – many lessons left to learn, and a lot left to be done.

The author is general counsel at Lenovo Corp. This article first appeared in the book Bright Ideas – Insights from Legal Luminaries. Editor:  E. Leigh Dance, Mill City Press 2009. www.brightideasgloballaw.com.

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