Leadership Advice from Ex-Lawyer Turned Exec.

Lisa Gersh is the founder of Oxygen Media and the CEO of Goop, plus a former AmLaw associate. She was recently featured in the New York Times’ Corner Office Q&A on leadership. Her legal training makes her suggestions for professionals extra accessible to lawyers:

1. Actively listen. Leaders need to take in all the information to make a decision, but often meeting goers may not really want to disclose everything. As a result, “if you’re not actively listening, you’re going to miss it.” Similarly, lawyers need quell internal dialogue in order to listen to clients completely (who may well be withholding something important).
2. Build on ideas, and give direction. It’s easy for lawyers to say no to an idea (“People pitch ideas all the time, and I find that others in the room can often want to say no and talk about why it’s not a good idea.”). Instead, listen to ideas, look for what would work, and direct people toward the positive instead of simply shutting things down.
3. Adjust your body language. Lisa observed that people in legal and business meetings sit with their arms crossed and feign disinterest to avoid showing their hand. But to get the most out of meetings with creative team members, leaders should lean in and nod when receiving a pitch. The result is the creative participants “get more and more excited about the pitch and they give you their best work.”