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Episode 27

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

Episode summary

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.
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Host
Tyler Finn
Head of Community & Growth, SpotDraft
Guest
Sarah Binder
General Counsel, Lime

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