Part 4 of 9: Lessons GCs wish they’d known earlier

Legal expertise and business understanding are critical. But neither creates impact if the message itself doesn’t land. In Part 4 of our series, 9 Lessons GCs Wish They’d Known Earlier, we explore why communication is one of the most important – and often underestimated – skills for modern General Counsel.

4. Communication creates influence

For many lawyers, the instinct is to provide complete analysis, detailed explanations, and every possible angle of risk.

But in-house, influence often depends less on the depth of the analysis and more on the clarity of the message.

Because business leaders rarely need a legal lecture. They need direction. The most effective GCs understand how to translate complexity into clarity – distilling legal issues into practical advice that supports decision-making.

“Decisions beat documents.”
— Dag Ove Solsvik, Head of Legal (Maritime) and Secretary to the Board of Directors, DNV (Norway)

This shift changes the role legal plays within the organisation.

Instead of acting as a purely technical function, legal becomes a facilitator of action – helping the business move forward with confidence, clarity, and a realistic understanding of risk.

But communication is not only about how advice is delivered. It is also about whether people feel understood in the first place.

“People often only listen to our advice when we have demonstrated we have the ability to understand their pain and challenges.”
— Lewis H. Truong, General Counsel, Manulife (Vietnam)

That ability to listen, adapt, and communicate in a way that resonates with different stakeholders is what builds influence over time.

It means understanding your audience, speaking in commercial rather than purely legal terms, and recognising that timing and tone matter as much as technical accuracy.

In practice, the GCs who create the greatest impact are often the ones who can make complex issues feel clear, manageable, and actionable.

Because ultimately, even the best legal advice has limited value if it cannot be understood – or used.

Key Takeaway:
The value of legal advice lies not just in its accuracy, but in whether it drives action.

This is Part 4 of our 9-part series: Lessons GCs Wish They’d Known Earlier
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