Introduction: 0:00
- Introducing Chelsea Grayson, Managing Partner at Pivot > and former board member and CEO at major brands like American Apparel, True Religion, Spark Networks, and more.
- Currently serving as a board member at Beyond Meat and Xponential Fitness.
- Envisioning yourself as a “Philadelphia Lawyer” from a young age.
- Getting comfortable with reading and advocating for text as an English Literature major at UCLA.
Rising to partner at Jones Day and Loeb & Loeb, two big LA-based law firms: 3:00
- Investing in relationships and relying on mentors to guide you to options you didn’t know were available.
- Receiving guidance from a veteran lawyer who teaches you transactions after seeing beyond your self-conception as a litigator.
- Balancing agency over your own career with an understanding of power structures that extend to beyond CEOs.
Transition to in-house legal (and a CEO role) at American Apparel: 9:35
- Being recommended to an American Apparel board member to fill a GC role by a former client at CBS Corp.
- Accepting a 50% pay cut to help save an LA-based public company with more than 7,500 specialized employees working in the city.
- Firing the CEO for cause on her first day as GC.
- Combatting a hostile takeover, taking a poison pill, and building relationships with bondholders at Goldman Sachs during her first year.
- Reluctantly accepting a CEO role and figuring out the details later.
Tips for building relationships with investors: 15:11
- Demonstrating maturity and charisma so that people follow your leadership.
- Aligning with bondholders about retaining people, unifying teams, growth, and revenue.
- Considering a successor plan if the CEO needs to be replaced.
Managing CEO transitions: 18:34
- Planning out the replacement plan and keeping the current CEO looped in.
- Taking the process behind the scenes when the CEO doesn’t want to resign.
- Letting the CEO show their replacement around and make introductions for an amicable transition.
- Converting a young company’s entrepreneurial mentality into a professionalized environment.
Joining boards and positioning yourself as a good board member: 26:30
- Keeping your head in and your fingers out.
- Offering solutions when asked, being available, and always having an opinion.
- Tips for lawyers on how to join a board.
Becoming CEO of True Religion Jeans during a turnaround: 34:19
- Leading a company at the moment they come out of chapter 11.
- Converting from board member to CEO to bring a sense of consistency to a troubled company.
Sitting on the board of Sugarfina after a bankruptcy turnaround: 37:45
- Separating the board’s corporate restructuring work from the CEO’s operational mandate.
- Maintaining fiduciary obligations as a north star when winding down companies.
Stepping into a tech CEO role at Spark Networks: 42:00
- Spending five years on the board of the dating app giant.
- Needing a knowledgeable leader when the company is going private.
- Removing “interim” from your title to broadcast a sense of consistency.
Founding Pivot >, a corporate restructuring company: 47:39
- Bringing together restructuring professionals to create an advisory firm for companies wanting to manage or preempt a crisis.
- Serving on the board of Xponential Fitness and Beyond Meat.
Book recommendations: 55:08
- Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two by Jim Koch
- The Messy Truth: How I Sold my Business for Millions but Almost Lost Myself by Alli Webb
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 58:10
- Understanding that saying no to everything is a bad strategy.
- Leaning into the business needs of your clients.
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