Seeing Around Corners with Walmart’s Former General Counsel

Ask any General Counsel of a Fortune 100 company and they’ll tell you their role feels like a high-speed video game. It requires incredible focus and a commitment to seeing around corners so you can dodge the thousands of missiles that will inevitably come your way. With the increase in both internal and external threats in the workplace in recent years, this role cannot be effective acting alone. Specifically, an effective General Counsel is dependent on their relationship with corporate security.

In this episode, Fred and Tom Mars, Former General Counsel of Walmart and Ontic Advisory Board Member, discuss the integral role that corporate security plays in helping companies reduce liability. All too often, there is an unhealthy tendency to silo functions within a company. During Mars’ career at Walmart, he knew better. His team worked to flatten the organizational chart and create dotted lines and more conversations, leading to a more efficient and productive environment. Mars also reminds us that there is an art and a science to corporate liability, and the art taught him many unforgettable lessons in leadership around humility and self awareness. 

For nearly 11 years, Tom served as Walmart’s General Counsel, overseeing all of the company’s legal matters both in the U.S. and internationally, and ultimately served as Chief Administrative Officer. His road to get there was anything but a straight line – starting out as a police officer in Virginia to establishing a legal career that spans working for Hillary Clinton to uncovering one of the greatest scandals in NCAA College Football history.

Episode Notes:

For a complete bio, here is Mars’ website: https://mars-law.com/

Read Mars’ recent press in the Wall Street Journal: The Cop, the Lawyer and the Walmart Executive Who Took on College Football