Taking Businesses & Legal Teams Global: Sarah Binder, General Counsel, Lime

Introduction: 0:00

• Introducing Sarah Binder, General Counsel at Lime and former GC and Global Development Officer at Pizza Hut UK and Europe.
• Relocating from the UK to San Francisco for her role at Lime.
• Offering advice for lawyers taking jobs in new countries.
• Giving yourself enough time to transition and unpack.

Discussing the scope of Sarah’s GC roles at Lime and Pizza Hut UK and Europe: 4:56

• Shepherding consumer cell phone enterprises in the telecomm industry.
• Understanding how GDPR affects innovation in the digital space.
• Negotiating between the potential of tech and rapidly changing international legislation.
• Uniting behind a strong digital agenda to carry an organization through the pandemic. 
• Dealing with transportation regulations across global municipalities for Lime scooters.

Effectively scaling out your team for international expansion: 7:48

• Allowing business to drive growth.
• Recognizing when to build a team in a new country.
• Being realistic about where you are, rather than where you want to get to.

Tips for working across time zones without feeling burnout: 12:47

• Developing a flexible workday that allows you to overlap with all teams across markets.
• Valuing a flat hierarchy, lowkey structure, and easy channels for communication.
• Maintaining casual check-ins and holding regular off-sites. 
• Ensuring that face-to-face interactions are as efficient as possible.

Defining the role of the GC: 18:57

• Measuring efficiency, effectiveness, and speed when planning a new international entity.
• Preparing for the best and planning for the worst.
• Establishing check-in points and developing milestones for future growth.

What American execs get wrong when they expand into European markets: 24:57

• Needing to recognize that not every European country is in the EU and beholden to GDPR and other EU regulations.
• Understanding the difference between EU regulations and directives and that each country interprets them differently.
• Working across 28 countries at Yum! Brands and 35 at Lime.
• Book recommendation: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer.

Guiding your team through a diverse set of regulatory bodies: 30:01

• Simultaneously navigating regulations in 300 different cities with unique regulatory bodies. 
• Relying on a clear set of principles and being flexible when necessary.
• Becoming familiar with individual regulators at local, national, and supranational levels.

Looking back on your experience with consumer product liability as a general counsel: 32:38

• Forefronting transparency with regulators as you navigate a product recall. 
• Controlling adherence, information flow, action, and status.

How GCs strike a balance between growth and regulatory compliance: 37:19

• Bringing clarity and transparency to potential business situations.
• Making yourself accessible to all teams and stakeholders. 
• Proactively educating business teams about risk.
• Clarifying that your role is to help the organization achieve its business goals.

Book Recommendation: 40:45‍

• ‍Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin.