Dr. No #40 - The cure for irrelevant legal teams? Ruthless curiosity.

Hey lawyer,

This week, Rosa and I bring you one of the most powerful mental upgrades we’ve seen lately — and the real reason some legal leaders break into the inner circle while others stay stuck in the compliance waiting room.

We call it the 1+1+1+1+1 = 10x model.

Let’s go.

1. Food for Thought

Timing changes the story.

• Talk about a mistake before it happens? You get solutions.

• Talk about it after it happens? You get excuses.

So: What do you and your CEO need to be talking about now — before the consequences land on your desk?

Strategic GCs don’t just manage outcomes. They predict conversations.

2. Book Insight – The Yellow Pad (Robert Rubin)

Rubin ran Goldman Sachs and the U.S. Treasury. His secret?
A yellow legal pad — and a world-class decision-making system.

Here are the parts no one tells you:

• Use probabilities, not predictions.
  Rubin never said “the market will crash.” He said, “There’s a 30% chance it will, so we hedge accordingly.”

• Don’t pick sides.
  Growth vs. stability? Capital vs. social investment? Rubin chose “and” over “or.”
  Strategic GCs should too.

• Stress-test your thinking.
  Ask: What if I’m wrong? What would I never consider?
  If you’re too sure, you're already missing something.

• “I don’t know” beats false confidence.
  In high-stakes decisions, ego kills process.
  Rubin: “Better to be uncertain and right than confident and wrong.”

• The Yellow Pad Method:

  1. Write the core question

  2. List pros, cons, and unknowns

  3. Assign probabilities

  4. Revise with new data
     Why? Because writing forces clarity. Always.

3. Mental Model – Inversion

Don’t ask, “How do I become a strategic GC?”
Ask: “How do I make Legal irrelevant?” Then avoid:

• Only speaking when asked

• Delivering analysis, not outcomes

• Using risk as a shield instead of a lever

Invert to escape mediocrity.

4. AI Tool – Jots
Don’t “journal.”
Capture decisions. Process thinking. Identify patterns.
Jots helps you track goals and reflect like a strategist — not a diary addict.

Write short. Review weekly. Improve permanently.

5. Quote to Reflect
“In high-stakes decisions, process is the product.”
— Robert E. Rubin

Ambar – Because sharp thinking needs sharp people.

At Ambar, we give GCs on-demand access to elite legal minds who work like operators, not just technicians.

Why it works:

• The best talent isn’t always in-house — and it shouldn’t be.

• Expertise moves fast. You need lawyers who train like athletes.

• Talent shortages are structural. So your hiring strategy has to be fluid.

• Fresh eyes fix stale problems. Especially when your team’s tired.

• No overhead. No passive liabilities. Just results.

Think of it as “staff-on-demand” — but built for corporate law.

Ambar. One click. No drama.

See you next round,
Dr. No