Dr. No - Your Legal Advice Is Less Rational Than You Think (and How to Fix It)

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”
— John Milton, Paradise Lost

Hey GC,

Let’s start with a bold truth:
You’re not as rational as you think.
And neither is your CFO, your sales team, or that guy from procurement who forwards contracts with “any thoughts?”

In fact, as Dan Ariely explains in Predictably Irrational, we’re all gloriously inconsistent, biased, and driven by hidden forces that make Excel cry.

But here’s the twist:
Understanding those forces is your secret weapon. Not just to give better legal advice—but to become the kind of business ally execs actually listen to.

Here’s your 3-minute breakdown of brain-bending insights you can apply this week:

🧠 Insight #1: Free Is a Dangerous Drug

Ariely shows that when something is free—even if it's worse—we irrationally want it. Zero cost = zero logic.

💡 GC Takeaway:
“Free legal” often leads to people treating legal like a buffet. They overuse it, ignore its value, and then complain it's slow.

✅ Try this: Price your time (even internally). Say: “We’re happy to help—this is a €5k issue, so let’s make sure we frame it right.” Suddenly, they think.

🧠 Insight #2: Anchoring Is Everywhere

People rely heavily on the first piece of information they get—even if it’s nonsense.

💡 GC Takeaway:
Whoever frames the issue first, wins. If legal always reacts, you’re always anchored to someone else’s (bad) assumptions.

✅ Try this: In kick-off meetings, offer your framing first. “Here’s what we’re solving for legally, and here’s what a win looks like.” Now they’re playing your game.

🧠 Insight #3: Ownership Changes Everything

We value what we build ourselves (even IKEA furniture). It’s irrational—but powerful.

💡 GC Takeaway:
Want business teams to care about compliance, contract terms, or policies? Don’t hand them finished work. Get them involved in shaping it.

✅ Try this: Let product or sales co-write one clause with you. Will it be terrible? Yes. But they’ll defend it like a firstborn.

🧠 Insight #4: People Play by Different Rules — Depending on the Vibe

Dan Ariely shows that people behave very differently depending on whether they feel they’re in a social relationship or a market transaction.

💡 GC Takeaway:
As a GC, sometimes you need to be a trusted teammate. Other times, a sharp resource allocator. If you don’t set the tone, others won’t know how to treat you.

✅ Try this:
When you need collaboration:
🗣️ “I’m here to help you make this work.” (That’s a social frame. Team mode activated.)

When you need boundaries:
🗣️ “To prioritise properly, I’ll need this approved by the steering committee.” (Market frame. Efficiency mode activated.)

Knowing when to switch tone is what separates a business partner from a bottleneck.

🧠 Insight #5: The Power of Expectations

Our expectations literally shape our experience. In Ariely’s experiments, people rated the same beer differently depending on whether they were told it had balsamic vinegar.

💡 GC Takeaway:
Set expectations with intent. If legal is introduced as “the department that signs off,” you’re starting in a ditch.

✅ Try this: In onboarding or all-hands, introduce legal as “the team that helps us scale without stepping on landmines.” Watch how perception shifts.

🧠 Insight #6: The Endowment Effect

People overvalue what they already own—just because it’s theirs.

💡 GC Takeaway:
Legacy processes, Word templates from 2008, approval chains with 4 VPs... These often exist not because they work, but because someone “owns” them emotionally.

✅ Try this: When proposing change, start with what stays, not what goes. Then reframe the new process as an upgrade they get to own.

⚡ AI Booster of the Week

Rize – Maximize your productivity with AI.
It auto-tracks how you work, nudges you out of doom-scrolling, and gives you reports that make you look like a time management god.

🎯 For GCs who want to bill like a partner, think like a CEO, and feel like a monk.

👉 Give it a try

🧨 Final Thought:

If your CEO got to run your life for a day, what’s the first thing they’d eliminate?

Be honest. Is it your 73-tab browser? Your calendar? Or your need to review that NDA “one last time”?

That’s it for this week.

Legal doesn’t have to be boring.

And neither do you.

See you at the top,

Rosa & Manuel