Ep 54: Lyft's Kristin Sverchek on Expanding Beyond Legal into Corporate Leadership
Sep 5, 2024
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Kristin Sverchek, President of Lyft, began her journey as the company's first general counsel and navigated a remarkable path to leadership. She shares insights on managing the complexities of a rapidly growing startup and the challenges faced while transitioning into a public company. Kristin discusses how she tackled political issues to protect drivers and offers valuable advice for lawyers aspiring to expand their roles. She reflects on the importance of mentorship and embracing change in a dynamic corporate environment.
Kristin Sverchek emphasizes the importance of balancing risk tolerance and legal responsibilities as companies transition from startup to public status.
She highlights the value of building a diverse team and fostering a collaborative culture to tackle the challenges of rapid growth and evolving company needs.
Deep dives
Calibrating Risk Tolerance in Corporate Growth
As companies grow and transition to public status, their risk tolerance needs to decrease significantly. Early-stage companies often embrace aggressive, high-risk strategies, encouraged by venture capitalists who are aligned with such ambitions. In contrast, more established firms face heightened scrutiny from shareholders, hence necessitating a more conservative approach. General counsels (GCs) play a pivotal role in this transition, needing to balance their own risk preferences with the company's evolving requirements.
The Journey from Molecular Biology to Law
The guest's career trajectory illustrates a fascinating pivot from studying molecular and cell biology to becoming a prominent lawyer. Despite a deep-rooted family background in science, she realized that a long-term career in the sciences was not her calling. Her argumentative nature, coupled with a desire for a new path, led her to pursue law school. This decision proved advantageous, as the logical and analytical skills she developed during her science studies translated effectively into her legal career.
The Role of General Counsel and Team Building
Transitioning from outside counsel to the first general counsel at Lyft presented a steep learning curve, requiring her to adapt to the dynamics of an in-house role. Unlike her previous position where advice was solicited, being in-house meant proactively providing counsel and building trust among teams. Early experiences underscored the importance of a collaborative culture, where even junior team members could challenge her decisions. As Lyft expanded, her focus shifted to hiring a diverse legal team with various specialties to support a rapidly growing company.
Navigating the Changes from Private to Public Company
The journey to taking Lyft public was not an obvious path when the guest first joined the company, and the IPO came with unique challenges. The growth and maturation of the organization over seven years equipped her to handle the complexities associated with public company governance. The transition from private to public involved adapting to a quarterly calendar that dictated strategic planning and operations, contrasting the less rigid timelines of private companies. Her success in this environment resulted from preparing incrementally and relying on both an experienced team and external counsel.
How can C-suite leaders take on challenging political issues that affect their company? How do you pursue a path of professional growth at a company over the course of a decade? What's required for taking on wide-ranging responsibilities at the executive level?
Join Kristin Sverchek, President of Lyft, as she discusses how she joined a small start-up as their first general counsel and grew with it as it transformed into a global ride-sharing powerhouse with a multi-billion dollar IPO.
Listen as she discusses the unexpected management challenges she faced and conquered internally as her role expanded beyond legal, as well as the external challenges of taking strong stances to protect her drivers in the face of adverse political climates. She also offers advice for lawyers looking to expand beyond the legal function and shares stories about innovating in industries where regulations haven’t been updated in over a century.
Topics: Introduction: 0:00 Finding your way to Lyft: 3:51 Taking on your first GC role at Lyft: 6:23 Building a legal team at a rapidly growing start-up: 8:23 Helping lead the IPO process: 10:48 Comparing work at public and private companies: 14:39 Dealing with the challenges of executive roles: 17:20 Transitioning into the President of Business Affairs role: 21:45 Working with an executive coach during major career transitions: 26:08 Advice to lawyers who want to take on GC “plus” roles: 27:56 Defining and living your values at Lyft: 30:30 Taking on the role of President: 35:58 Departing Lyft: 38:42 Book recommendation: 45:52 What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 46:58
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