Key to Getting Ahead: Understanding Executives

Attorneys expect steady advancement in their careers, but legal jobs are structured like a pyramid. Many junior attorneys line the bottom of the org chart, and very few senior jobs are perched at the top. One way for attorneys to leapfrog ahead is to gain the trust of a senior executive.

How do you know what execs want to earn their sponsorship? One easy thing to do is read the Corner Office column in the New York Times each week.

It’s a short Q&A with executives asking what influenced them, what tips they have, and how they hire. The column recently interviewed Jim Dolce, the CEO of Lookout, the San Francisco mobile security company, and Tae Hea Nahm, a former WSGR and VLG partner turned managing director of Storm Ventures.  Some nuggets: 

• Jim Dolce says when he hires, he always asks the interviewee to ask him anything. By the answer he gets, “it tells me what you’re looking for. I can figure out what your interests are what they’re not. And just by the nature of the questions you ask, I can tell whether you’ve done your homework on the company and the industry, and whether you have a genuine interest in working here.”
• Tae Hea Nahm talks about his hard-driving Korean parents. “If I got 99 on a test, the first question was ‘Why didn’t you get 100?’ If I got 100, the next question was, ‘Can you do it again?’” (That sounds painfully familiar!). And – listen up! – he talks about moving from big firm partnership to becoming venture capitalist after working with hundreds of startups.