E22: Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Transatlantic law firm, Womble Bond Dickinson, Betty Temple.

Her 25+ years of experience in advising public company boards on their highest strategic priorities gives her perspective on how to meet the needs of clients in a fast-changing world.

Clients describe Betty as a champion for their interests — a leader, an innovator, and a trusted strategic counselor.

Betty’s highest leadership priority is to ensure that the firm’s clients receive extraordinary service and legal work from dedicated lawyers.

She also serves as Co-Chair of the Transatlantic Board. She has expanded the firm’s ability to reach further in serving clients through the additional mind power, bench strength, industry insight, practice areas and geographic coverage that the combined firms can bring to bear.

She has an undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Betty’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettytemple

Womble Bond Dickinson: https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/us

WHAT YOU WILL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Where Betty’s childhood reputation came from as the “two-gun sheriff”.
• What leadership lessons she learned working as a ranch hand in Wyoming.
• Why she believes in the power of storytelling, and how she uses it as a leader.
• Why she’s held onto her Southern accent. 
• The big Pandemic challenges, and how she’s navigated them.
• The pros and cons of staying with one organization your entire career.
• One thing Betty wished she would have tried earlier in her career.
• The origin of her deep interest in business. 
• What makes working at Womble Bond Dickinson so special.
• Finding the balance of being a mother and CEO.
• The powerful lesson she learned from her daughter when she was in Girl Scouts.
• The big three priorities she sets for her team.
• What she’d like her legacy to be at Womble Bond Dickinson.
• How to instill curiosity in your employees, and why it’s so important.
• Advice for moving on from a mistake or failure.
• The go-to resource that Betty reads every day.
• What she reads before bed to relax.
• The one tool that’s helped Betty the most during the Pandemic.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Benefits of staying in one company for a long time:

• Gives the firm a sense of security when the leader has been there for their whole career
• You get to understand the culture
• Builds security with the clients
• The sense of stability at work

Advice for women wanting to get to C-Suite:

• Aspire to be a leader.
• Learn from your mistakes.
• Keep moving forward and look for new opportunities.
• Be passionate and don’t be afraid to show it.
• Make sure you understand your strengths and weaknesses.
• Don’t neglect working on your strengths and weaknesses.

QUOTES:

“If you don’t do your job, things don’t go well.”

“If you’re having a hard time finding a great place to build your career and continuing to develop, you should stick with it.”

“Self-awareness is critical to success as a leader.”

RESOURCES:

 Wall Street Journal

https://www.wsj.com/

Cisco IP Video Phone

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-endpoints/ip-phone-8865/index.html

-------------------

Apply to be on the show

-------------------

Connect with Ben:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/

https://www.instagram.com/benfanning1/

https://twitter.com/BenFanning1