Business Leader Interview
Our interview is with Nick Deeming, a member of ‘The Lawyer’ “Hot 100 2007” and currently Group General Counsel at Christie’s International, the world’s leading art business.
Nick Deeming previously led the global legal services group at Linde and BOC. The BOC team was awarded the “In-house Commercial and Industry Team of the Year” by ‘The Lawyer Awards 2006’. Corporate Alchemy’s Penny Sophocleous interviewed Nick in December 2007. Excerpts of the interview follow.
Interviewer: Many of our clients are lawyers and other professionals who rely on their technical expertise to succeed. The commercial, management and leadership issues that many face when they reach higher levels of promotion, seem alien and outside their comfort zone. As someone who has made that journey and attained a high business perspective, we’d like to ask you about your journey and the advice you can offer to others.
Firstly what mindset or framework have you developed in order to make the journey to business leader, rather than technical expert?
Nick Deeming: One thing that underlines a lot of these questions is that we all have a female side to us. Certainly men do, but lots of men don’t allow that to come through. It’s a slightly dangerous track, but I feel that if men are more open, more prepared to listen to advice, be prepared to be more accepting, then they can end up succeeding a lot better and can get to where they want to get a lot quicker. I’ve observed in a lot of people I’ve worked with, that they’re not open to listen to advice, although they might say they do; they’re not open to new ideas or new ways of doing things and can be quite fixed in their approach.
One key, is recognising this softer, sensitive side and then recognise it’s not a disadvantage but more an advantage. I’ve learned to multi-task and I don’t think men are brilliant at multi-tasking, whereas women are. I’m amazed at my wife, she can multi-task in a way that I can now, but previously could never do. Multi-tasking is very important in being able to think across a number of things and being able to do a number of things at the same time. I think we’ve got to be more open to our sensitive side because that allows us to do a lot more things.
The next key thing, has been determination, not to be put down when something’s gone wrong, whatever it might be, keep going to find a way around the challenge that’s been put before me. One has to be very disciplined. I get up early to do things and I think it’s important that you find a way of working that allows you to stay on top of everything, whether it’s small or the big things. Underlying it all you have to be ambitious, there’s got to be an ambition to succeed.
Most importantly, whatever you do you must get fulfilment. If you don’t get fulfilment in some way, then you’ve got to question whether what you’re doing is right. If you’re not fulfilled, you’re never going to be driven.
Interviewer: What’s been a specific approach you’ve taken in the business commercial areas that’s helped you think as a business leader rather than a lawyer?
Nick Deeming: The key is, if you’re going to be in business, you’ve got to be a business lawyer. You have to throw off this mantle of just being the lawyer and if you don’t think like that, then you’re never going to succeed in being a business lawyer. To think like a business lawyer you have to think as a business man. The specific approach I’ve taken (and I’ve really pushed myself on this) is when someone puts something to me, to which my immediate legal instinct says “No, what planet are you on?”, instead I step back before having said that, to try putting myself in their shoes, asking “What’s driving that opinion? Why do they want to do that? Perhaps there’s a different business perspective that will help determine and drive my view in a different way?” It sounds very easy, but it’s actually quite difficult. I find it helped drive my thinking to get away from this knee-jerk reaction to say “No” and say instead “It’s a good idea but maybe we should try and do it a different way”. It’s a key part in my development thinking as a business man, before I give any answer.
Interviewer: How did you gain that business perspective?
Nick Deeming: If you want to succeed as a business lawyer you’ve got to see yourself as a partner. You’ve got to drive it into yourself. I think training is the key. I did an MBA in the 90’s that helped enormously; it gave me a different perspective of all the other disciplines, especially strategy. It’s going on courses, it’s talking to people, it’s saying to yourself “If I’m really going to be good at what I do, as a business lawyer, I’ve got to think as a business man”. If you start with that premise you will succeed!
