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I’m only Legal Counsel but seeing what my manager has to go through on a daily basis, I’m not sure I want their role (besides the prestige and money, or course).
Pros: money, swag
Cons: dealing with politics, reports, idiots, stress, headcount, budget
It’s just me but personally I would never aim to be GC or CLO. Just one or two levels below is ideal. I don’t need all the money or glory at the expense of my WLB and sanity. 😉
You couldn't pay me enough to handle the headaches that land in my GC's lap. I'm still an individual contributor (though a relatively senior one), I'm not even sure I want to move up the ladder from where I am now.
See you could pay me enough, in equity, if we’re privately held and there’s a chance of a liquidity event or CPO. In fact that’s the only circumstance under which I’d go from my role to a DGC or GC level role. I get to support my business unit and get lots of credit for our units success, but I’m insulated from the heat that a GC takes for anything else company wide that isn’t positive for the business. If I’m going to take that on I need skin in the game and upside potential.
Being a manager in a company and not a law firm setting is challenging - you gotta think about culture, development opportunities, retention concerns, budget....
Managing people, at any level, can be very exhausting. The higher you get, the bigger the problems you have to deal with and solve on a daily basis. The more administrative tasks you’ll have that take away from uninterrupted work time. And the more the buck stops with you no matter what. That said, you sort of have to continue on the trajectory to continue your career. Otherwise you just stagnate.
The main con I see is being bombarded with problems all day from across the company. You’re expected to be proficient in all areas of law that touch the company, and you’re always putting out fires. It can make for a stressful life. I guess the main pro is, being a part of the executive team where your opinion matters and you can directly affect the company’s success.
I enjoyed my senior counsel role more than my AGC role in most ways, to be honest. My GC is a much more challenging personality than the AGC to whom I used to report. My work flow is constantly interrupted by emails relating to random issues that need to be resolved. I have even more meetings and administrative work to deal with. In the other hand, there are only about a dozen people above me on the whole org chart and that provides a fair amount of status within. My organization, my work is diverse and I’m constantly learning, and my compensation grew by about 20% all in.
Work-life balance vs. $. If you enjoy compliance it’s not work right? Suggest seeking input from fam, a mentor, and significant others.
