Matthew Olsen, Head of Business Development, Litigation at Hunton & Williams, understands that setting tangible goals along specific strategies equals career and business success. We had the opportunity to talk with Matthew about how he and his team has worked to support their clients.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
I am most proud of working with a cohesive team that produces work I am proud of. It can be challenging to work with different cultures, responsibilities, needs etc. I am proud of my group and my team. It’s also a lot of fun to be able to be creative at work. When we find something in our strategy that hits, we share the success as a team.
What advice what you give to people just getting started in business development/marketing?
Be hungry to learn and jump on projects you may not be qualified to do. Find a leader to help support you through the journey. It’s important people know what you are passionate about. Share it. Speak up and raise your hand. Go above and beyond with your work, particularly when the project may be above your level. Identify a profile of where you want to be in your career. Look at the direction of people/profile you want to be.
For instance, when I was more junior in my career, I wrote my ideal resume and characteristics I wanted in my resume. From there I made a set of cards with a career goal on each one. On the back of each card, I bulleted steps to take to accomplish the goal. This method has worked very well for me.
From what I can see on your Linkedin page, you have worked in both marketing and business development. How do you see the two areas overlapping?
I work with the marketing department all the time. We are intertwined and create success for our clients by working together. At larger firms, Business Development can be more partner facing. Attorneys come to us as account representatives. But to execute these goals we often need help and creativity from marketing. It is a great partnership.
What are you speaking about at LMA annual conference?
The MBA mindset. The panel is made up of four of us who all have MBA’s. The exercise is how we apply lessons we learned in business school to day-to-day business life. I will specifically discuss applying values and formulas to make decisions. I have a case study on entering a new market. You can get data, but how do you interpret that data? I will also explain how to weigh various metrics. Depending on your firm, you give more weight to what the firm is focused on.
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