The secret of creativity according to James Donovan.

1. BE CREATIVE
James Donovan
Goldman Sachs

2. CORPORATE LAWYERS
NEED TO GET CREATIVE
• Everyone should be creative as client managers, but especially corporate
lawyers.
• Never just say “No” to a suggestion. If you have to answer in the
negative, come up with an alternative.
• Also be very clear about why you are rejecting the suggestion.
• Now it is time to offer an alternative, preferably more than one.

3. COMMON SENSE RULES
• While most managers think they know about common sense, in practice,
it often gets lost in the process.
• In other words, never forget to think about how a client is going to be
hearing what you are saying.
• So if they make a suggestion and you don’t think it is good for example,
hearing “No” is hard. Hearing “No but how about…?” is much easier on
the ears.
• Common sense means you will get into the mind of the client and truly
understand what specific issues they are encountering.

4. KEEP THE CONVERSATION FLOWING
• Ask open-ended questions which require more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’
response.
• One example is: instead of saying “do you like the weather outside?”
you will instead ask “how do you like the weather outside?”
• When asking questions, think about how best to elicit the most
information with an answer.
• Understand the ego: people love to talk about themselves. So ask
questions that encourage the client to talk about him/herself.

5. UNDERSTAND THE
PSYCHOLOGY OF PEOPLE
• If you really understand the psychology of human nature you’ll quickly
realize that people just like to feel good about themselves and have
confidence in what they are doing.
• It is your job as a client manager to help them feel good and to give
them the confidence they need to propel their project forward.

6. JIM DONOVAN: SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES