An investment banker once told me this:

“I am happy to share credit with my team members for a job done well. But if anything goes wrong, it will be my responsibility. It will be on me.”

The investment banker shared a story on how requests to other team members to do more (perhaps more than other teams) to verify information in offer documents for capital market transactions, caused some junior team members to complain.

Story like this is rather common.

There may be friction between a senior who has more experience and is perhaps a bit more cautious than a junior. After all, if you have been doing capital market transactions long enough, you will be actively looking out for issues (real or imagined) in order to resolve those issues and avoid delay to the transactions.

Or perhaps this is a story on the challenge faced by multi-generational team members working together.

I share the investment banker’s concern whenever I work on capital market transactions. I hear the voice in my head:

“Make sure all relevant information is verified. Always go back to the source documents to verify the information. Make sure the statements in the offer documents are clear and not misleading.”

***
Going back to the “why” will help team members to be on the same page.

Instead of merely telling them what to do, it is better to also ask them:

Do you understand why we are doing it this way?

#malaysiancorporatelawyer
#lawyering
#equitycapitalmarkets

This post was first posted on Linked on 13 April 2022.