The Strategic GC, Gartner’s General Counsel Podcast

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:Learn how regulatory intelligence presents strategic opportunities and potential competitive advantages. (3:14)Strategies for how legal leaders can clarify the business case for regulatory intelligence programs. (10:45)Understand how to prioritize efforts in developing regulatory intelligence programs. (18:06)Understand the various tools that are available in building regulatory intelligence programs. (22:46)Learn where to start building a regulatory intelligence program. (27:06)The global surge in complex regulations has strained internal legal and compliance departments, necessitating robust processes to manage these changes effectively. In this installment of the Strategic GC Podcast, Gartner advisor Daniel Hebda and host Alissa Lugo discuss how general counsel (GC) can build regulatory intelligence programs to meet compliance obligations and identify strategic opportunities for potential competitive advantages.  Eager to hear more?  The Strategic GC Podcast publishes the last Thursday of every month. Plus, listen back to past episodesDaniel Hebda is a Senior Director Advisor in Gartner’s legal and compliance practice. Daniel helps legal and compliance leaders understand, tailor, and implement best practices in risk management. Daniel regularly speaks to clients on selecting a catalog of risks that represents their risk universe, surveying organizational stakeholders who can identify the likelihood and impact of top risks, developing and implementing actionable risk appetites, matching resources with risk priorities, and communicating effectively and clearly about risk strategy and mitigation plans. Before Gartner, Daniel practiced law and managed staff in the areas of civil litigation (plaintiff and defense), employment law, contracts, nonprofit law, and corporate governance.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:Why is it important for general counsel (GC) to work with and leverage the chief audit executive (CAE)? (1:42)Understand how CAEs can provide confidence to risk management through executive committees and particular risk areas.(4:53)Understand how CAEs can provide confidence on emerging risk information provided to the board and its committees. (7:33)Strategies for how GC can leverage CAEs for integrated risk assessments. (10:38)Understand how integrated risk assurance can help the board with increasing overall risk appetite and the role of the CAE. (15:21)How can coordinating activities across assurance improve risk management (19:07)Ideas for conversation topics for GC and CAEs. (22:05)With more than half of boards ineffectively overseeing risk, GC should focus on identifying ways to help the board improve. In this installment of the Strategic GC Podcast, Gartner analyst Tim Berichon and host Alissa Lugo discuss how GC can partner with the CAE to build confidence around risk management activities, which then aids the board in having better insights on how executive leaders are managing risks.Eager to hear more?  The Strategic GC Podcast publishes the last Thursday of every month. Plus, listen back to past episodes.Take Gartner with you. Gartner clients can listen to the full episode and read more provocative insights and expertise on the go with Gartner Mobile App.   Become a Gartner client to access exclusive content from global thought leaders. Visit www.gartner.com today!About the Guest:Tim Berichon is a Senior Director Analyst in Gartner’s audit practice.  Tim helps Chief Audit Executives on leadership and effectiveness matters.  Tim regularly speaks to clients on optimizing business relevance, how best to manage board and senior leadership relationships, enterprise risk management and assurance challenges, and articulating audit services.  Prior to joining Gartner, Tim was Director of CAE Engagement and Research at The Institute of Internal Auditors ( IIA).  Prior to the IIA, he held CFO, CAE, ERM, and Forensic Investigation leadership positions at three global publicly listed companies. Tim started his career at PwC.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:Why is there a heightened focus on risk management now? (2:09)What are some tactics general counsel (GC) can use to ensure that emerging risk information presented to the board helps them with their oversight role? (4:40)Understand the types of information to include in board reports on emerging risks. (6:54)Understand the differences in how enterprise risks and emerging risks are treated and presented to the board. (10:18)Key takeaways on how to leverage heads of ERM to enable better risk oversight by the board. (18:38)Risk management continues to be one of the top concerns of boards. To alleviate this concern, boards must be receiving the right information from the C-suite, a crucial aspect of its ability to fulfill its risk oversight duty. In this installment of the Strategic GC Podcast, Garnter advisors Matt Holyes and Kevin Mercado and host Alissa Lugo discuss how general counsel can work better with heads of ERM.About the Guests:Kevin Mercado is a Principal Advisor in Gartner’s enterprise risk management practice. Kevin helps heads of enterprise risk management address their most-pressing, forward-looking challenges. Kevin provides timely insights on a range of topics including identifying and managing constantly evolving emerging risks, enhancing the risk response process, and developing risk assessment strategies.Matt Hoyles is a Senior Principal Advisor for Gartner working with CRO's and ERM leaders on the development of their risk management teams and processes, including how to use risk management for strategic advantage and to drive corporate performance. Matt regularly speaks on launching and maturing the risk function, effective risk governance, and how others are defining, measuring and enhancing risk culture. Matt also leads our Quarterly Emerging risk webinar and regularly speaks to various audiences on recent emerging risk trends and building an effective emerging risk program.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:Why now is the time to invest in legal tech and solve adoption challenges. (1:55)Understand why lawyers avoid technology. (4:56)Determine how to make tech hard to avoid for intended users. (9:50)Understand how to turn continued tech holdouts into tech adopters. (17:05)Immediate actions to improve your legal tech adoption strategies. (23:43)While most lawyers do understand the potential usefulness and value of using technology to improve their work, general counsel will have to work to overcome reluctance and set clear and real expectations for tech usage. In this installment of the Strategic GC Podcast, Gartner advisor Drew Tanenbaum and host Alissa Lugo discuss how general counsel can increase legal technology adoption rates.Eager to hear more? The Strategic GC Podcast publishes the last Thursday of every month. Plus, listen back to past episodes.Drew Tanenbaum, a Gartner senior director of advisory, helps general counsel (GC) become more effective organizational and functional leaders. As a trusted advisor to GC, Drew supports them on a range of initiatives, including personal and team strategy setting, improving board effectiveness, developing and managing environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) strategies, transforming legal departments, and improving organizational risk management. Previously, Drew worked as in-house counsel at PayPal and Citigroup, and before that he served as an attorney at two large, national law firms.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:Top use cases for in-house legal teams (3:37)Steps GC can take to get their in-house teams to test it out (8:08)Tips on managing the risks of generative AI “hallucinations” (13:20)How to get started (15:52)How law firms can help (17:14)Medium-term goals legal leaders should set for employing the technology (17:55)Over the next two to five years, Gartner predicts large language models (LLMs) will boost legal department productivity by at least 10% to 20%, more than other transformative technologies. General counsel (GC) should get their teams to start using LLMs now.In this installment of the Strategic GC podcast, Gartner Vice President and Chief of Research for General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officers Chris Audet and host Laura Cohn discuss the GC’s role in helping legal teams find ways to integrate generative AI and AI-enabled research tools into their work. Listen now to get insights on how the technology can help teams manage contract work and why GC should encourage experimentation. Plus, get the inside track on the importance of training, how law firms can help, and why the technology presents an opportunity that legal leaders shouldn’t wait to capitalize on. Eager to hear more? The Strategic GC podcast publishes the last Thursday of every month. Plus, catch up with our previous episode, on how to make a legal operations function a strategic partner. Subscribe to Strategic GC Podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Simplecast.Chris Audet is vice president and chief of research for Gartner’s assurance practice. For more than 15 years, he has worked closely with leading general counsel and chief compliance officers. He currently identifies, designs and executes research to meet the expanding portfolio of in-house legal and compliance teams, covering topics that include compliance program management, legal and compliance technology, and compliance risk management. Before Gartner, he worked for the Association of Corporate Counsel. Chris is retired from the practice of law in the State of New York.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:Legal operations’ most common role. (6:21)Legal operations can assist with taking a portfolio approach to law firm services. (13:06)The other roles that legal operations can take on in legal department management. (15:49)Tips on how to better leverage legal operations as a strategic partner. (28:35)In this installment of the Strategic GC Podcast, Gartner advisor Roxanne Rogers and host Alissa Lugo discuss how legal operations can be a strategic partner to the general counsel (GC). To better utilize legal operations, GC should:Understand the role legal operations have traditionally played.Utilize legal operations for workload and external provider management.Include legal operations when setting legal department strategy. Roxanne Rogers is a Gartner advisory director and helps general counsel (GC) improve their department management and operations. Roxanne serves as a trusted advisor to legal leaders focused on strategic planning, workload allocation, process refinement and legal staff development. She has been working with GC for eight years. Roxanne also helps GC develop multiyear strategic roadmaps, conduct legal staff workload assessments, identify outside counsel cost-saving opportunities and develop competency models.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:How to update risk monitoring systems. (6:03)Why is the FCPA and compliance monitoring and analytics under scrutiny? (10:40)How can AI and other technologies help with risk monitoring and detection. (12:31)Tips on implementing the DOJ’s guidance on incentive compensation structures. (14:46)Tips on implementing the DOJ’s and the FTC’s guidance on messaging apps and collaboration tools guidance. (20:19)The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has upped the ante on compliance program effectiveness with a wave of guidance issued since 2022. Legal and compliance leaders would benefit from assessing and improving three key priorities outlined by the DOJ:Update risk monitoring systemsIncorporate incentives into compensation structures to foster compliance culture and establish clawback policiesEstablish policies and procedures to preserve communications and data from messaging and collaboration tools and personal devices that are used for business purposesIn this installment of the Strategic GC Podcast, Gartner analyst Lauren Kornutick and host Alissa Lugo discuss how leaders can improve compliance program effectiveness based on DOJ guidance. It includes three areas to prioritize, how to assess compliance program effectiveness, as well as case studies from QBE, AbbVie and Intel on progressive risk assessment and monitoring practices.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:What does it mean to be an effective GC (2:56)How can GC navigate and prioritize various role expectations (4:30)Tips for how GC can form and strength relationships with key stakeholders (7:27)How should GC handle tricky relationships (11:49)Tips on how the GC assess the capabilities of the legal department (13:57)Quick wins the GC can take during the initial transition period (17:20)Transitioning into a new general counsel (GC) role is critical and challenging. To be successful, a new GC should focus on three areas. Understand the expectations of the GC role at their organizationForm key relationships with the board, executive team, business partners and legal department staffAssess the legal department’s maturity, capabilities and processesIn this installment of the Strategic GC Podcast, Gartner research leader Abbott Martin and host Alissa Lugo discuss how new GC can focus on key steps to start their transitions off strong. It includes three areas to focus on, some insights gained from clients navigating these transitions, as well as some quick wins GC can take to signal willingness to be a strategic partner.  

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:The GC’s first steps for managing AI governance. (2:01)Emerging governance structures include moving away from outright bans. (4:13)Critical lessons from a case study on IBM’s governance framework. (5:13)How a smaller enterprise could adapt IBM’s framework. (7:28)What the GC needs to weigh when deciding on a governance model. (9:28)How to know who should own AI risk. (10:35)Tips on navigating the shifting global regulatory landscape. (11:40)The EU’s AI Act: GDPR all over again? (13:00)Why managing AI oversight is an opportunity for GC. (14:54)Three actions for GC to manage AI governance. (15:47)When ChatGPT took the world by storm, most general counsel hadn’t even considered the risks. Very few had guidelines. Some companies even outright banned the use of generative AI tools. But now, more than a year later, most companies have a policy — or are working on one. Others are building out their AI oversight teams.  In this installment of the Strategic GC, Gartner analyst Lauren Kornutick and host Laura Cohn discuss the general counsel’s role in helping organizations shape and maintain AI governance to enable them to harness the opportunities and manage the risks. It includes how to get started, takeaways from IBM’s AI governance framework, and tips on managing the global regulatory shifts. They also discuss AI oversight as an opportunity for legal leaders to showcase their strengths as a strategic business leader.

Only have time to listen in bite-sized chunks? Skip straight to the parts of the podcast most relevant to you:Why companies should be aware of the new SEC rules (1:43)What’s at stake: CISO personal liability, as seen in the SolarWinds complaint (4:18)Lessons for other organizations from the SEC’s complaint (5:25)How the GC can coach the CISO on getting the board up to speed on cyber risk (6:28)How often cybersecurity risk should appear on the board’s agenda (7:28)Details on what information the CISO should share with directors (9:05)Tips on how the GC can coach the CISO on board presentations (10:49)What else the GC should do now to manage the SEC’s rules (13:07)Pitfalls to avoid (14:26)

Only one in four legal leaders is confident in their ability to tackle strategic planning and resource allocation.1A good strategic plan for the legal department elevates the GC from captain of a firefighting squad to savvy business partner, but how do you create one? In this installment of the Strategic GC, Gartner legal and compliance advisor Sarah Barrett-Vane and host Eliza Krigman discuss two essential elements: defining legal goals that align with organizational objectives and adjusting to changes in the business environment. Listen to learn what effective GC do to adapt well, such as capability planning, and find out what kind of events warrant a shift in tack.New episodes publish on the last Thursday of the month. 1 2022 Gartner General Counsel Personal Effectiveness Diagnostic: Gartner surveyed 93 GC against 185 attributes to determine the markers of a personally effective GC and the behaviors, activities and methodologies they implement that makes them personally effective. Data was collected from 1 January through 31 December 2022, and represents respondents in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. All industry segments qualified for this survey, and organization revenue ranged from less than $250 million to $50 billion and greater for the 2022 fiscal year.Sarah Barrett-Vane is a U.K.-based legal operations and procurement leader. At Gartner, she focuses on advising general counsel and heads of legal operations.Sarah worked as a lawyer for 13 years before moving into legal procurement and contract management. She served for five years as director of legal operations at Royal Mail, where she focused on buying legal services, managing external providers, and implementing legal technology and process improvements. She started her own legal operations/procurement consulting business in 2018, advising corporate legal teams on topics including legal panel reviews, legal technology solutions and improving department performance.

Why GenAI holds promise for in-house legal departments (1:52)Use cases for in-house legal (3:02)How to manage the reliability issues (4:45)Why implementing the technology is a priority now (5:59)Why organizations that use the technology will replace those that don’t (7:11)How Tim Fraser is encouraging members of his team to test the technology (7:53)Initial takeaways (9:09)How Tim plans to use AI in contracting (11:05)What guardrails organizations should implement to manage the risk (11:42)Tim’s role in setting up the company’s cross-functional innovation program to manage risk and build “a culture of experimentation and adoption” (13:18)Why GenAI will “probably be as disruptive as the industrial revolution” (15:36)Tim Fraser, the general counsel for Toshiba America, hasn’t wasted any time in identifying ways GenAI can help legal teams free time to do more strategic work and, at the same time, save money. Listen to Tim and host Laura Cohn discuss how the technology can drive efficiency — and why organizations can’t afford to have a wait-and-see attitude toward using it. Tim, whose team meets regularly to share information about how they’re using GenAI, is trying to build “a culture of experimentation and adoption.” He offers this advice to other executives: “Get started,” because this will be “at least as disruptive as the invention of the computer.”

Do you want to ditch legal’s reputation as the “Department of No”? Find out how, on this installment of the podcast. Gartner legal advisor Daniel Hebda and host Eliza Krigman discuss three ways GC can help lawyers offer better guidance for placing smart bets. One tactic: Hold structured conversations with business partners about the risk and reward of a given initiative. The resulting insight liberates lawyers to make decisions based on the facts, rather than fear or biases.New episodes go live the last Thursday of each month.About the Guest:Daniel Hebda advises GC on designing and implementing risk management best practices, such as ways to identify, prioritize and report on top legal risks in their organization. He regularly assists GC in designing risk assessments, planning mitigation frameworks and clarifying organizational risk appetite. Before joining Gartner, Hebda practiced law in the areas of civil litigation, contracts, employment, nonprofit and corporate governance.

Eighty percent of business leaders tell us their organizations still set ESG goals that are at least somewhat tailored for marketing.1 Listen to Drew Tanenbaum, an advisor in Gartner’s legal and compliance practice, and host Eliza Krigman unpack the general counsel’s role in moving from cosmetic targets to goals that mitigate risks and capture opportunities. GC should ask executives two essential questions — early and often: “Should we pursue it?” and “Could we attain it?”The podcast publishes the last Thursday of every month.Evidence1 2023 Gartner ESG Goal-Setting Survey. This survey was conducted in April-May 2023 to understand how organizations should structure their ESG programs to drive meaningful progress against its ESG goals. The research was conducted online among 206 respondents in North America, Western Europe and Asian regions. Qualifying organizations had at least $500 million (or USD equivalent) in total annual revenue for FY22. Further, the questionnaire sought responses from full-time senior employees with visibility into organizations’ ESG goal setting.

It’s painful but true: Encouraging employees to speak up because it supports company values and is the right thing to do just doesn’t work anymore. In this episode of the Strategic GC, learn why it’s time to throw out the old playbook in favor of one that resonates with a more pragmatic workforce. Jennifer Kugler, an advisor in Gartner’s Legal and Compliance practice, talks with host Eliza Krigman, about a shift in workers’ views on reporting misconduct — they want to know “what’s in it for me?” Tune in for specific tips on building employee trust in your organization’s fairness, consistency and safeguards against retaliation.

Well-intentioned general counsel (GC) who want to help their burned-out lawyers have tried lightening the mood with virtual wine tastings and escape rooms. But the GC can accomplish more by addressing the true reasons behind the exhaustion and discontent common on legal teams. In this episode of the Strategic GC, Roxanne Rogers — an advisor in Gartner’s legal and compliance practice — joins host Eliza Krigman to share a better way to motivate legal talent: giving them more of the work they find fulfilling while they continue their core jobs. The conversation features real-world practices from healthcare and agricultural companies, along with traps to avoid and tips for implementing this strategy.

Listen to the parts of the discussion most relevant to you:The role of the GC in board effectiveness (3:52)How GC can recruit better directors (4:42)Policies to refresh the slate of directors (7:34)Ways the GC can improve the board’s social dynamics (9:24)Practices to revamp information packets (10:38)What to do to manage pushback from executives (13:18)Which tactics have the most impact (14:54)How GC can monitor their efforts (15:46)Should your board of directors ride on a bus together? That’s how one general counsel (GC) promotes better board effectiveness, according to Gartner analyst Alissa Lugo. Getting directors to engage with each other outside the boardroom is one of the tactics host Laura Cohn and Alissa discuss in this episode of the Strategic GC. This engagement and increasing board effectiveness is vital, as only half of organizations have effective boards, according to the 2023 Gartner Corporate Governance and Board Management Benchmark Survey. When general counsel take steps to make the board more effective, they play a big role in helping organizations navigate an ever-shifting web of economic, social and geopolitical pressures.

Listen to the parts of the discussion most relevant to you:Why GC should care about time management (1:11) The unique time pressures GC face (1:57) Obstacles GC face on better time management (3:18) Ways GC can take control of their calendar (4:47) Tactics to better manage time (10:15) Benefits of implementing those tactics (15:30) Inside look at how legal and compliance leaders cope with change (18:27)When general counsel get better at guarding their time for work only they can do, they become business leaders who make a bigger strategic impact on their company. In this episode, host Eliza Krigman and guest Drew Tanenbaum, an advisor in Gartner’s legal and compliance practice, discuss results of our study on GC time management. One jarring revelation: Only 53% of GC time goes to the work they should be doing.1If you’re coping with emerging boardroom issues, heightened stakeholder expectations and new regulatory regimes by working longer hours or taking your laptop to the beach, this episode will show you how to rebalance your day toward the big things and away from the meetings or tasks that might require a lawyer … but not the GC.