Welcome to the next edition of Leadership Matters where we ask leaders around the Pacific Zone for their insights and advice about leadership matters to support our continuing journey of personal and professional development.
In this edition, we hear from our General Counsel Pacific Zone Johanna McPherson, who is responsible for managing the general legal affairs for Schneider Electric in Australia and New Zealand. Johanna’s team oversees all commercial transactions across the Asia Pacific region, general legal advice, M&A, litigation and disputes, corporate secretarial, and industrial relations legal support.
With over 30 years’ experience negotiating commercial deals, Johanna has worked in leading organisations such as Unisys, EDS, WorldCom, International Hotels Group, and Babcock and Brown prior to joining Schneider Electric.
What motivates and excites you about your role at Schneider Electric?
That is a question I am asked often by people within and outside Schneider Electric, particularly in light of my years of experience here. There are 2 main things that attract me to this job. The first is that, despite my tenure, I continue to learn new things, particularly in the legal arena given the fast-changing business that is Schneider. For example, cybersecurity law wasn’t on my radar but now it is.
The second is the teams I lead and work with. One of the unique and special qualities of Schneider is its collaborative culture.
We’re one of the leading companies in the world when it comes to sustainability. How are you and your team contributing to this?
Over the past to 7 years we have substantially reduced our use of paper. The legal profession is a heavy paper user and, for example, typically for a contract you would go through a lot just generating drafts. These days everything is done on screen and since the pandemic it’s become easier to use online signing tools such as DocuSign which now means we don’t need to print contracts and everything is reviewed, signed, and stored online.
In terms of sustainability, which person or organisation do you consider to be an ‘#ImpactMaker’ and why?
Al Gore, his documentary “An inconvenient truth” was instrumental in bringing the impact of climate change to the attention of a broader global audience than had previously been exposed.
What was a moment in your career that was pivotal or changed you in some way?
I have had the pleasure of working on some incredibly interesting transactions over the years; however, the experience that left an indelible impression on me was when I was commuting to Japan to negotiate a hotel joint venture. The deal took over 12 months to complete and taught me that it doesn’t matter if you come from different countries or have different customs, if you stay authentic to who you are it is easier for the other person to get to know you and trust you…also, humour is a common language.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
I heard a brilliant speech at a sales conference once. The concept was ‘everything in moderation’, which is that you cannot permanently sustain positions of high extremes e.g., long hours, extreme health regimes, etc. It is a pity the speaker didn’t take his own advice as he was found passed out after the event dinner. However, this did not deter me from following his advice.
Which of our company values resonates with you most and why?
Teamwork — without it, I couldn’t perform my job or support the business.