Lunch with a Leader
Andrew Glincher ’80: Adapting to change
In February, students had the opportunity to speak with Andrew Glincher ’80, CEO and managing partner of Nixon Peabody. Glincher leads 1,500 employees, including more than 650 attorneys who collaborate across the U.S. and with alliance firms around the world. Before taking his current role at Nixon Peabody, Glincher served as managing partner of the firm’s Boston office and as a professor of real estate finance at Boston College for 23 years.
At the lunch, held in the Fulton Honors Library, Glincher told stories about his career journey and the lessons he has learned along the way. In a time when so many careers seem to follow a strictly specified path, Glincher reminded students that many careers take unorthodox paths, and that you can mold your career into anything if you are open to change. He, for example, was able to combine his love for both law and business into a career.
In his current role, Glincher attracts and retains talent and clients, work that he feels strongly is best accomplished by fostering communication, passion, and trust, he told students. He said he views communication as the most important skill one should have, regardless of career path, especially the ability to communicate across generations and cultures. Glincher stressed the importance of listening. When considering whether to work for or do business with an organization, he advised, arrive 15 minutes early for a meeting. One can learn a lot about that organization by sitting in the front office and listening, observing the culture and how people relate to each other.
Organizational culture is critical to Glincher—he is proud that Nixon Peabody has a culture that retains talent for decades, and he constantly strives to enrich that culture through diversity and inclusion. He was especially excited about his initiative to promote younger and less-experienced talent to leadership roles earlier in their careers, a practice that is highly unusual in his industry.
This was just one of many examples Glincher cited regarding his work to make Nixon Peabody the law firm of the future. He believes that he can deliver the best results for clients and talent alike by fostering an environment that encourages creativity and new ideas about ways to play to the firm’s strengths. Like most other professions, law is changing as a result of technology, and Glincher is sure lawyers will not be operating the same way in five years. He wants to poise his company for agility, and to ensure that its people love their work and that clients are satisfied.
Caitlan Griffith '20, Winston undergraduate assistant
Dannel Malloy ’77, BC Law ’80: From overcoming a learning difference to leading a state
Former Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy of Connecticut shared with students the same message that his mother impressed upon him throughout his upbringing: “You have an obligation to leave the world a better place for your having lived in it.” Malloy, who was the Spring 2019 Rappaport Visiting Professor at BC Law, told students in Devlin Hall in February that his mother’s call to action spurred him to play a role in broader society.
The Stamford, Connecticut, native began his career as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, New York. He went on to practice law privately for 12 years while serving in the evenings on his local government’s board of finance and board of education. He then served as mayor of Stamford for 14 years before becoming the state governor.
Malloy encouraged the students to take chances. Taking chances is especially important to Malloy because doing so was critical to his path—as the first person admitted to both BC and BC Law with a learning disability. Challenging himself on both campuses got him to the bar exam, where he fought to be the first person without a physical disability to be allowed to dictate the essay portion of the exam. In so doing, he paved the way for others like him, an experience that confirmed the leadership skills his mother saw in him from a young age.
As Malloy developed as a politician and a leader, he came to understand that his leadership strengths lay in his ability to put great teams of people together. He advised students that once they get into leadership positions, they should always use their position to hire people substantially smarter than them, and then work to empower their team members by rewarding a job well done and fostering camaraderie. But the other side of the coin, Malloy said, is that if a new hire isn’t working out within the first 90 days, you have to be willing to end the relationship and move on.
Finally, Malloy urged students to understand their own motivations for any work they are aiming to go into. Speaking from his perspective as a public servant, he said that while not everyone is going to be a mayor, governor, senator, or president, there are lots of other ways to make an impact in the public realm. And he cautioned, “If you are a person who is willing to compromise [your] values, don’t go into politics, [where that is] too easy to do.”
Caitlan Griffith '20, Winston undergraduate assistant