Business Thinking
It’s been a tough road to the top, but you’ve made it. What happens if the view isn’t good enough? Former editor of Harvard Business Review Karen Dillon considers how those who have achieved the role of GC can keep the journey going.
For decades, Alex had aspired to the role of general counsel. He spent the majority of his career in the legal department of a Fortune 100 company, working hard to distinguish himself not only with legal acumen, but with management and leadership skills as well. But when he finally got the nod to assume the top legal position, there was, he confesses now, a bit of a letdown. After chasing that job and that title for nearly three decades – and finally getting it – Alex found himself wrestling with an unsettling sense of disappointment.
Getting the general counsel title is still one of the most sought after ‘destinations’ for the legal profession, according to Spencer Stuart legal headhunter Catherine Nathan. ‘I get several emails a day from law firm partners at major firms wanting to move in-house to a GC role.’ But it can be emotionally complicated when you finally achieve a goal you’ve sought for longer than you can remember. Alex’s reaction is not at all uncommon, suggests Monique Valcour, a professor of management at EDHEC Business School in France, whose research focuses on finding meaning in work. ‘So often for people who have achieved the highest extrinsically measurable level in their field, there is a sense of “is this all there is?”’
