Visionary Leadership: A Journey Across Borders with Curt McDaniel

UpLevel View

Dive into visionary leadership with Curt McDaniel, Chief Legal Officer at Ferring Pharmaceuticals, on the UpLevel View podcast. Discover how embracing innovation and a forward-thinking mindset propels an international legal team to new heights. In this conversation with UpLevel Ops’ CEO Steph Corey, McDaniel shares his approach to nurturing a vision that transcends borders and how it's infused into Ferring’s culture, driving extraordinary achievements. Listen to the UpLevel View and improve your legal leadership vision today!

Who’s The Guest? Curt McDaniel is the Chief Legal Officer at Ferring Pharmaceuticals. He joined Ferring in 2006 and oversees Legal, Intellectual Property, Compliance, and Privacy activities worldwide. He has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spanning various aspects of the business and many different countries and cultures. Before joining Ferring, Curt worked at Eli Lilly for more than 16 years. He holds a Juris Doctor degree and an M.B.A. from Indiana University, and a B.A. from Purdue University.

Highlights

• His experience and the challenges of leading a mid-size, family-owned company, and how he has driven legal innovation.
• The concept of "legal design" which focuses on understanding the needs and challenges of the business partner.
• Building the legal operations department and its role in optimizing legal services.
• The starting principles for assessing legal services needed and the best ways to provide the services.
• The changing role of delivering legal services due to technology advancements and the impact on law firms.
• Using data for improvement and measuring progress was discussed. Importance of assessing the effectiveness of processes through gathered data was highlighted.
• The importance of celebrating success and recognizing continuous progress was stressed.
• The idea of a “legal data scientist” having recognized the need for data-based decision-making in the company.
• The experience of working on large legal contracts and questioned their necessity. Mentioned the importance of focusing on a business partner’s perspective.
• The importance of using data to guide decision-making in the legal department.

Episode Resources

• General Counsel Thought Leadership Hub at UpLevel Ops: https://uplevelops.com/gc_thoughtleadership/
• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek: https://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone/dp/1591846447
• https://linkforlegal.com/
• Connect with Stephanie Corey
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephcorey-ulo
• https://fr.linkedin.com/company/uplevel-ops
• https://uplevelops.com/
• https://linkforlegal.com/
• Connect with Curt McDaniel
• [e-mail]
• https://www.ferring.com