In today’s fast-paced legal landscape, GCs are navigating a complex mix of leadership, ethics, and integrity challenges.

Janet Taylor-Hall, CEO at Cognia
We gathered valuable insights from thought-provoking discussions with GCs, supported by data from our latest GC survey, which applies across all industries—whether it’s leading through crisis, strategic relationship building, embedding integrity and ethics or Gen AI adoption – balancing risk and reward.
We hope you find this useful.
Leading through crisis
GCs bring a unique, independent perspective to leadership teams, positioning them to guide businesses through times of transformation and uncertainty. Successfully managing a crisis can solidify the GC’s role as a key player in the executive team, and the ability to navigate complex challenges is what makes this role both engaging and fulfilling.
In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business environment is putting increased strain on GCs’ relationships and resources — a conclusion echoed in our GC survey results.
“The world we inhabit as GCs is much more dominated by crisis – working in a constant state of crisis management.”
Building and maintaining trust between the GC and executive stakeholders is essential for effective decision making, particularly in a crisis. But with the shortening of senior role tenures, GCs are often required to build trusted relationships at speed.
Russell Reynolds Associates, which runs a quarterly Global CEO Turnover index, reports that CEO-churn is at an all-time high. Business leaders across the S&P 500 and FTSE 350 remained in post an average of 7.6 years in 2022, compared to 9.2 years in 2018. And CEOs are not the only executive role with a shrinking tenure. In Fortune 500 companies, COOs, another important relationship for GCs, have an average tenure of 3 years, and a turnover rate of 14%—the highest percentage among C-suite roles.
The arrival of a new CEO ushers in a new wave of change. The focus of the first 100 days may not align with the broader risks and challenges facing the business. GCs must quickly establish a connection with the new CEO, earning trust while ensuring they bring critical legal and business insights to the table.

The ever-changing landscape means GCs are constantly reevaluating how their function can most effectively support the success of the business. Their role extends beyond managing legal and regulatory risks—it encompasses actively contributing to commercial success as a strategic, informed partner within the leadership team.
“We must be experts on the company as well as the detail of the law- particularly demonstrating what is right when dealing with the regulators.”
Strategic relationships building
“Influence is not only about addressing the legal question – but understanding the behavioral themes that contribute to building trust with other leaders.”
This trust doesn’t materialise overnight – it’s part of strategic relationship building. Discussions revealed that GCs who invest time in understanding the priorities, drivers, and metrics of executives are better positioned to influence decision-making, especially around issues of risk. By fostering relationships, actively listening, and being attuned to the needs of their ecosystem, GCs can create a foundation of trust that proves invaluable in times of crisis.
As GCs encounter new stakeholders, the risk of being perceived as “just the lawyer” becomes a barrier to their broader influence. To counter this, GCs must consistently demonstrate their capacity to provide strategic insights and participate in discussions that go beyond legal issues, contributing to commercial and strategic conversations with authority.
By leveraging the broader ecosystem, i.e. working with external counsel and other partners, GCs can scale their capabilities and ensure that both crisis management and day-to-day operations are handled effectively.
“It is vital not just to be the lawyer around the table as this is a very limiting position. GCs need to become entrenched in the day to day and be able to contribute to conversations around strategic and commercial issues. Feeling confident to weigh into discussions builds credibility.”
So how should this be achieved? Our survey revealed that GCs value leadership, empathy and teamwork and business judgement. “Understanding the politics without engaging in them” is often key to navigating these relationships. Team members often take their lead from watching the GC at work – especially in moments of crisis.
“As a GC you have to be aware that when you make a tough call a whole team of people are watching – this is where your investment in your team really pays off.”

Embedding Integrity and ethics
The role of the GC may not always have a defined place within every organisation’s structure. However, when new executives come on board or external pressures mount, conflicts can arise between competing agendas and the GCs ongoing responsibility to uphold business integrity and ethical values.
The GCs role is to safeguard the long-term success of the organisation, not protecting any one individual or an individual’s agenda, regardless of tenure. This positive, independent stance requires the GC to build relationships across the organisation, with the executive and non-executives such as the Chairman and may occasionally create friction with other leaders.
To be seen as a trusted advisor, a GC must navigate difficult conversations, but all know when to challenge effectively. Equally important is ensuring the GC is present at the right time, to provide clear and constructive advice regarding risk — without being perceived as a business blocker.
But what happens when a GC is shut out of strategic decision making? Some GCs have used the impact of consequent disastrous repercussions – hopefully in other businesses – as cautionary tales, supporting recommendations for leadership training to improve the quality of risk analysis, discussion and collective decision making.
Not every organisation welcomes challenge. During the discussion, examples of GCs being sidelined, or actively pressured to the point of bullying were explored. Being a GC can be a lonely role, which is why peer groups such as The Eagle Club are vital for fostering a community of shared experiences and advice.
Budget constraints were also flagged as a concern, especially when they impact the GC’s ability to function effectively. A question raised during the discussion: when should a GC push back and highlight the risks of these internal pressures? While generative AI was a popular topic of conversation, none of the participants viewed it as a short-term solution for addressing the complex challenges facing many organisations today.
Gen AI – the risk reward of accelerating adoption
Gen AI is becoming a vital component of many organisations’ strategies. Our recent survey showed that 20% of participants expect data and AI guardrails to be added to their remit.
Many companies are seeing the benefits of Gen AI, such as analysing and responding to customer service questions at scale. However, in other cases legal teams have had to intervene, particularly with practices like the automatic transcription of meetings.
Although adoption across the wider business is accelerating, there are fewer Gen AI use cases within the legal function.

Many said they looked to their law firms to innovate with Gen AI applications to deliver speed and efficiency in delivery but one thing they were certain about was that generating more data, whether using Gen AI or not, will inevitably increase the demands and expectations of regulatory bodies.
Whether it is building trusted relationships across the leadership team, the wider business, or the legal eco-system to unlock knowledge and opportunities – the creative thinking, empathy, effective listening and the socio-emotional skills, are an essential capability for the successful GC in these times of constant challenge and transformation. Leading through change: shaping the future of legal leadership, talent, and transformation. This is what we will explore at our next event – and in an upcoming article.
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