Book details

  • Genre:business & economics
  • Sub-genre:Leadership
  • Language:English
  • Pages:260
  • eBook ISBN:9798317849047

Embracing Serendipity: A General Counsel's Perspective on Leadership

By Jeff Benjamin

Overview

italicsEmbracing Serendipity: A General Counsel's Perspective on Leadership,end italics provides leadership guidance, based on principles expounded by experts in the field and over forty years of the author's experience as an attorney, General Counsel, and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, including examples of some of the great leaders who lived during his lifetime. The book is a must-read not only for attorneys and ethics and compliance professionals but for anyone in, or aspiring to be in, a leadership position. Among other related topics, the author describes how best to promote a culture of integrity, motivate colleagues, and collaborate—with a focus on professional development, having fun and enjoying work, engaging and effective live training, building and improving upon an excellent ethics and compliance program, and serendipity.
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Description

Beginning with an introduction that describes a leadership retreat that Jeff and his legal department's leadership team experienced on Cape Cod and a first chapter summarizing what many leadership experts have opined are leadership principles and the attributes of great leaders, Jeff proposes three main elements of effective leadership: vision, collaboration, and motivation, stating, "Those aspiring to improve their leadership ability should: • Give paramount importance to a shared vision for the organization's culture and objectives. • Collaborate effectively with all whose support is required to achieve alignment on the strategies, long-term goals, and interim targets required for achieving this vision. • Motivate people to take the steps needed to achieve the vision by modeling integrity and other best-in-class leadership qualities, creating a superb team, and supporting the personal and professional objectives of team members." He goes on to provide details, with examples from his personal experience, of creating visions, achieving effective collaboration, and motivating others. He also propose four guiding principles for those who aspire to lead effectively, whether in a formal leadership position or otherwise; provides examples of how serendipitous events can contribute to one's leadership opportunities; describes how in each of the companies where he worked executives and colleagues applied the foregoing principles to improving their ethics and compliance programs and implemented engaging and memorable live training. In the final chapters, Jeff cites some of the individuals outside of work who have been important influences on him and concludes with insights he shared at retirement events at Novartis and Avon, including one based on a childhood experience on a playing field that he entered through a hole in a chain-link fence. Throughout, he often refers to the roles he played as a leader in several companies' Legal and Ethics and Compliance departments, underscoring that the principles and the vast majority of the examples provided are applicable to anyone who wishes to lead effectively, without regard to his or her position in an organization.
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About The Author

After three years as a Litigation Associate at a New York City law firm, Jeff Benjamin served in a variety of General Counseling positions, including General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Ciba-Geigy Corporation, which became Novartis Corporation after its merger with Sandoz, Inc. in January of 1997, the then largest merger in history. After retiring from Novartis Corporation after his 66th birthday, he was recruited out of retirement by Avon, Inc. where he served for approximately another five years as Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer. At each of these companies Jeff had the opportunity to lead superb legal departments for many years and to learn a great deal about how best to provide high-performance counsel and representation and promote a culture of respect and integrity. Jeff graduated from Cornell University's College of Arts & Sciences and then attended New York University Law School, where he graduated cum laude and as a member of NYU's Chapter of the Order of the Coif. During the 1970s, Jeff was a member of the United States Army Reserves. During law school Jeff served as an intern at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Throughout his career, he has written and presented on leadership, litigation, and ethics and compliance. Among other ethics and compliance–related activities, he was a member of the board of directors of the Ethics and Compliance Officers Association and was Chair of its New York Metropolitan Area Chapter. Since retiring from Avon in 2017, Jeff has provided consulting services, primarily in the areas of ethics and compliance, litigation, and leadership. Jeff was also a senior advisor to the Ethics & Compliance Initiative, a member of the board of directors of the Eastham Part-time Residents Taxpayers' Association, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Brennan Center for Justice. He currently lives in Nyack, New York, with his wife of more than 55 years, Betsy, and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. He has two children, Lily and Ross, and five grandchildren.
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