Vanguard General Counsels Forum in Chicago, Oct 23, 2023, 12 pm to 7 pm CT

Looking around corners in 2024: what GCs need to know.
General Counsels Forum
For GCs, by GCs
Oct 23, 2023, 12 pm to 6 pm CT
Reception: 6 pm to 7 pm CT
Dentons, 233 South Wacker Drive, Suite 5900, Chicago

The central role of the GC might be defined as “looking around corners.” This Forum will be a conversation among fellow GCs around what that will mean for 2024.

How should GCs be sensing the critical impending trends and events that will impact their enterprises? What do they need to be advising their Boards, CEOs, and fellow executives to do about those trends and events? Are there new ways of assessing and understanding the business and societal environments that GCs should bring to bear for 2024, and if so, how? And what about their departments, and the talent that will be needed to seize new opportunities, and master change?

As always, the Forum was an intimate dialogue among peers—no PowerPoint presentations, no podium. In a confidential, interactive setting, participants discussed the topics that really matter—and the steps they should be taking to address them.

Each session included a small group simulation, case study or workshop, that brought GC capabilities to bear on real-world scenarios.

AGENDA

12 pm to 12:45 pm: Registration, light lunch

12:45 pm to 1 pm: Introductions and review agenda

1 pm to 2 pm: Dealing with Disruption: AI as the example

What’s the balance between managing risk, and seizing an opportunity?
Simulation: Taking AI policy to the board

2:30 pm to 3:45 pm: Becoming an enterprise builder

Increasingly, strong GCs are not only advisors to their C-Suite peers, but also active contributors to the business
What does success at this look like?
How do you steer between contributing, and interfering?
Example: Impacts of global issues on the business
Small working groups: What is the GC role on assessing and addressing the threat of China to the business?

3:45 pm to 5 pm: What the Board wants you to handle: How should the enterprise address tough political/business issues?

Simulation: Small groups address two different topics
- What should be our response to the intensely polarized US ecosystem as we approach the ‘24 elections?
- How should we assess and respond to the increasingly politicized environment around ESG policies and practices?

5:20 pm to 6:15 pm: Building a High-Performance Team

In rapidly transforming environments, how do we build the right law department organization and talent for today – while looking around the corners for what will be needed tomorrow?
Will we need new strategies and structures?
New talent such as AI or global policy?

6:15 pm to 7:15 pm: Networking reception