Overview (Program Summary)
The Agile Leadership Academy for Law Department Executives
Never has the role of a law department leader been more complex! Whether you are an experienced Chief Legal Officer, first-time General Counsel, or legal professionals contemplating your next leadership role, the challenges of leading in a fluid and evolving environment are innumerable.
As a result, agility is the new and required leadership currency for managing law departments that seem to face new and vexing challenges daily. That's why ACC has created this thought-provoking five-part Webcast series that provides expert voices combined with actionable techniques for showing you how to develop and gain mastery of the new leadership skill for the post-pandemic world: agility.
Episode 1: The Portrait of An Agile Leader Is Revealed: An Intimate Roundtable
The first session in the Academy will paint a picture of what agile leadership actually looks like, bringing into focus the behaviors and skills that participants should aspire to model. This roundtable of legal department executives will share their respective journeys taken on the road to agile leadership. Through a candid, give-and take-conversation, they will provide insights into the challenges, hard-earned lessons and the high points that they have encountered â and how all of these experiences molded them into the agile leaders they are proud to call themselves today.
Key Learning Objectives:
- What it really takes to endure as a leader in today's business environment
- Influence: What it means to have it and how it fits into the agile leadership model
- The challenges of modeling the behaviors of an agile leader
- How agility manifests itself when managing competition within your team
- How team and individual motivational efforts are the keystones to agility
- The rewards of taking on the agile leadership mindset
Facilitators:
- Jan Anne Dubin, MBA, CEO and Founder, Jan Anne Dubin Consulting (Bio)
Featured Presenters:
- Sandra Leung, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Bristol Myers Squibb Company (Bio)
- Dan Weintraub, Managing Director and Chief Administrative and Legal Officer, Audax Group (Bio)
- Leanne Geale, EVP General Counsel, Corporate Governance and Compliance, Nestle S.A. (Bio)
- Amy Yeung, VP, Deputy General Counsel, Sallie Mae (Bio)
Episode 2: Building Your Profile and Visibility: Requirements for Agile Leadership
The agile leader understands that their success goes beyond just doing their job as an in-house counsel. They know that their agility is defined by their ability to display their expertise, talents and wisdom outside the organizations where they work. This second session illustrates this point with a panel of legal department executives who will share their best practices for building profiles that can position legal professionals as thought leaders and open them up to other opportunities, such as serving on corporate boards. Plus, you will learn how to use various communication channels to let the world know that you are ready to take the stage as an agile leader.
Key Learning Objectives:
- A strategic vision: What it means, what it is not and how a clear vision can help build a strong profile
- How to parlay your strengths into a narrative that positions you as a thought leader
- How to maximize your visibility through social media, podcasts, and speaking & writing engagements
Facilitators:
- Amy Yeung, VP, Deputy General Counsel, Sallie Mae (Bio)
- Jan Anne Dubin, MBA, CEO and Founder, Jan Anne Dubin Consulting (Bio)
Featured Presenters:
- Christine Castellano, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, The Andersons, Inc (Bio)
- Joseph Chan, Chief Legal Officer, Yum China (Bio)
- Sara Hays, Principal, SLH Advisors (Bio)
Episode 3: Strategic Networking: Re-Learning a Skill Laid Dormant by the Pandemic
Networking. You'd be forgiven for temporarily drawing a blank as to the meaning of this word. The last two years have given you permission for doing so as we have not practiced or flexed our networking muscles due to the pandemic shutting down the world. In part three of the series, a panel of legal department executives will share their secrets for re-using this skill to cultivate meaningful relationships at all levels within and outside the organization.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Why building connectivity is crucial to the agile leader's success
- How to develop goals for strategic relationships
- Advice and practices for re-entering the world to cultivate formative relationships
- The âPersonal Board of Directorsâ Support Network: Understanding its importance and how to build one
Facilitators:
- Amy Yeung, VP, Deputy General Counsel, Sallie Mae (Bio)
- Jan Anne Dubin, MBA, CEO and Founder, Jan Anne Dubin Consulting (Bio)
Featured Presenters:
- Carol DiBattiste, Former Executive Vice President, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary, Comscore, Inc. (Bio)
- James Villa, Chief Legal Officer, Aleut Federal (Bio)
- Dan Harper, former General Counsel, Carus LLC (Bio)
Episode 4: The New Metric for Your Team's Success: Achieving Belonging
Recent research shows that 72 percent of global workers feel lonely on monthly basis, while 55 percent express feelings of loneliness weekly. As a result of the pandemic, we are in the age of âemployee disconnectednessâ â which makes it imperative for the agile leader to create a work environment where their team members feel connected to the organization and to their colleagues. The fourth session will focus on understanding the concept of belonging, and why it is critical to retaining talent. You will learn from a panel of legal department executives about the various roles they play to support their team members success during a time when it is easier than ever to feel alone and disconnected from one another at work.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Defining the concept of Belonging in the Workplace
- Techniques for fostering belonging among employees on a regular basis
- Understanding the roles of sponsor and mentors and how both fit into employee connectedness
- What is allyship and how it can help you demonstrate support for your team members
- How the core elements of an exceptional workplace, including innovation, can foster collaboration and belonging within a team
Facilitators:
- Amy Yeung, VP, Deputy General Counsel, Sallie Mae (Bio)
- Jan Anne Dubin, MBA, CEO and Founder, Jan Anne Dubin Consulting (Bio)
Featured Presenters:
- Rob Falk, General Counsel, The Truth Initiative (Bio)
- Jeniffer M. De Jesus Roberts, Vice President, Enterprise Risk & Resilience, Booz Allen (Bio)
- Tyrone Thomas, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Doral Renewables USA (Bio)
Episode 5: Crafting an External Engagement Strategy: Your Path to Achieving Belonging
Just as your team must receive those opportunities for connectedness, don't forget that you also deserve to experience your own sense of belonging. This fifth session will illustrate where you can find these opportunities outside the organization for nourishing your need for connectedness. A seasoned panel of legal department executives will share how their experiences as board directors and civic-based volunteers have allowed them to feel even more connected to their careers, their peers and their communities.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Identify those interests and passion projects that will allow you to create positive change
- Creating a circle of influence and using affinity networks to locate opportunities for bringing your interests and passion projects to life
- How corporate boards can help you feel connected to the outside world
- Ways in which nonprofit leadership, community service and pro bono work can generate a sense of belonging
Facilitators:
- Amy Yeung, VP, Deputy General Counsel, Sallie Mae (Bio)
- Jan Anne Dubin, MBA, CEO and Founder, Jan Anne Dubin Consulting (Bio)
Featured Presenters:
- Kathleen Boege, General Counsel, Wintrust NA (Bio)
- Eric Reicin, President and Chief Executive Officer, BBB National Program (Bio)
- Mary Francis, Corporate Secretary and Chief Governance Officer, Chevron (Bio)
- Anushree Bagodria, Senior Managing Counsel, US Markets, Mastercard (Bio)