The Calls That Mattered Most – Six Lessons on Building a GC Network
By Sean Gallagher, Co-Founder Breakpoint Strategy
On my hardest days as a GC, I didn’t always need legal advice. I needed perspective.
During a crisis—clock running, call ultimately mine to make—I wasn’t looking for someone to weigh in on the law. I wanted to know how someone who’d sat in my exact chair thought about the moment, what they’d watch for, and whether I was overthinking (or even underthinking) it.
Those calls went to other GCs. They picked up, and they helped. Here are six lessons I’ve learned since.
Six Lessons on Building the Network You’ll Need
1. Start early
Trust doesn’t show up on demand. Build these relationships before you need them. By the time a crisis lands, it’s too late to start.
2. Keep it small
A handful of peers who pick up the phone beats hundreds of contacts. What counts is who answers late on a Sunday, and how candid they are when they do.
3. Go outside your industry
A GC at a consumer brand has often already solved what a biotech leader is wrestling with today. Different industries hit the same problems at different times, and the lessons travel well.
4. Be useful first
Make the intro, return the call, share the hard lessons. Generosity builds the strongest networks.
5. Use it for strategy questions
Outside counsel gives you the law. Peers help you navigate board dynamics, team reorgs, and headcount battles.
6. Open it to your team
A stronger network for your deputies creates a deeper bench for you. Introduce them to your peers, and encourage them to build circles of their own.
Why We Built Connector
After years as GCs, these realizations are why Scott Chaplin and I started Breakpoint Strategy and created the Connector Dinner Series. Connector dinners are invitation-only evenings for senior in-house leaders. No presentations, panels or PowerPoints. Just candid, peer-to-peer conversation around a dinner table with leaders across different industries, backgrounds, and challenges. Every dinner runs under the Chatham House Rule, so people can speak freely.
Since launching, we’ve hosted dinners in cities across the country.
Connector is core to how Breakpoint Strategy helps legal departments find great people and build strong teams. An in-house function does its best work when its talent, team, and network pull in the same direction.
If you lead an in-house legal team and would like to join us at an upcoming dinner, let us know through our Connector page.
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Sean Gallagher is Co-Founder of Breakpoint Strategy, which works exclusively with the in-house legal community.
