Being ranked as the foremost management thinker in the world is not a title that appears to daunt Clayton M. Christensen.

At the age of 62, the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading lights in innovation. In both 2011 and 2013 he achieved the top billing on the Thinkers50 chart which compiles the global ranking of management thinkers. Continue reading “The world’s greatest management thinker: Clayton Christensen”

Robert Robinson, GC of insurer Amlin, recently restructured and unified a collection of disparate legal teams. He explains the operational advantages, and challenges, of such a move to GC’s Catherine McGregor. Continue reading “Revolution!”

In the first of a series profiling legal departments that are pioneering innovative Ways to meld legal with business, GC meets with UK rail infrastructure company Network Rail’s Natalie Jobling, Cathy Crick and Dan Kayne.  Continue reading “From client to colleague: Network Rail”

If you’re anything like the picture of a lawyer painted by our contributor Edward Smith of TELEFÓNICA UK (see Where are all the lawyer-CEOs?), you might be thinking about flicking past this section out of fear of being outed as a finance-phobe. We know that’s a stereotype… but lots of our in-house lawyer friends have confided that, for many, finance is an Achilles heel. Continue reading “The 5-minute financial analysis”

How is your maths? According to 2013 research by recruitment firm Robert Half (quoted in Management Today), 52% of FTSE 100 CEOs have a finance background, 21% have an engineering background, 9% are from retail or hospitality, 8% are from marketing or advertising and 4% are from technology. Continue reading “Where are all the Lawyer-CEOs?”

For decades, Alex had aspired to the role of general counsel. He spent the majority of his career in the legal department of a Fortune 100 company, working hard to distinguish himself not only with legal acumen, but with management and leadership skills as well. But when he finally got the nod to assume the top legal position, there was, he confesses now, a bit of a letdown. After chasing that job and that title for nearly three decades – and finally getting it – Alex found himself wrestling with an unsettling sense of disappointment. Continue reading “How to be Chief Executive of your own career”