French energy management company Schneider Electric has been on a buying spree lately, most recently with its £3.4bn acquisition of Invensys, completed in 2014. These deals have seen the number of lawyers at the company rise to nearly 300, leading Peter Wexler, Schneider’s US-based group general counsel, to reflect on what it means to lead and train a legal function.
‘One of the key things about leadership is how you develop your talent,’ says Wexler. ‘I want to be around good people and smart people, so I personally interview most if not all who join this department. I tell them this: “If you make a decision and it’s wrong we’ll fix it, and if it’s well-reasoned and in the best interests of the company then I will support you even if it ends up being a catastrophe because I don’t want you to be afraid of making decisions.”‘
It is an approach Wexler has developed through experience. ‘Never be afraid to make a decision. That’s a rare thing in a legal department but sometimes you have to make a leap of faith.’
‘Never be afraid to make a decision.’
This same experience, Wexler believes, is essential to training in-house staff. ‘You can only teach or succeed in leadership by example. A good leader can get people to do things in a very amenable way because he or she has a track record of success. As GC you have to be able to jump in there and roll in the dirt with the rest of them, but you need to have that track record of success [to be credible]. Your biggest strength is yourself. You have to walk your talk. Authenticity equals consistency.’
The key to refining legal leadership and decision-making skills, Wexler believes, is to get as much non-legal experience as possible. ‘To make a decision you have to understand the broader context and if you can think outside the law you are three quarters of the way there. Working outside your core competencies is key. Heads of finance get put in charge of operating line functions, why shouldn’t heads of legal? Lawyers are smart people but unless they step outside the law companies will continue to miss out on a really smart talent pool.’