From Law to Leadership: How Teamwork and Character Drive Business Success

Jack Gilchrist never saw himself as an entrepreneur. Instead, he always envisioned himself as a team leader or manager because he enjoyed encouraging and working with others. Now with over five years of experience as founding Director of Gilchrist Aviation Law, P.C., he leads a team of about 30 on the values of working together for continual improvement and achieving great things. ?

Certainly, a lot of effort goes into starting and keeping a business going, and some of that comes with practice. For over 30 years, Jack has specialized his law career in aviation transactions, counseling clients of various industries and worldwide in aircraft transactions, including selling, purchasing, leasing and financing large transport aircraft and business aircraft.???

Throughout his career, Jack still leads with his values of teamwork and coaching others to achieve optimal results. In addition, he enjoys working with people, which shows in the tenure of his firm's employees and his mark in the aviation industry. ???

Becoming an entrepreneur?

Jack began his law career specializing in aviation, joining an existing firm early in his law career. Over time, the founding partner brought his son on board, and he began to see the firm moving in a different direction that Jack did not see himself fitting into. So, he decided to set up his own practice in partnership with a new firm. Aviation was a niche practice, so it was like having his own firm within a firm. Eventually, Jack continued to enjoy the aviation space.?

The task of starting a business was daunting as he had a young family he was trying to support, but Jack approached this decision similarly to other big life and career decisions—by seeking God's guidance, praying and talking things over with his wife.???

Luckily, Jack began to get clients quickly. However, it was not always easy. In the beginning, he would take almost any paid job. "When you're hungry, you'll do whatever it takes," Jack said. "But if I look back now, I would do it all over again."?

Teamwork?

Jack's philosophy on teamwork may be considered unique in the legal community, where attorneys can be protective of their clients and tend to work independently. However, Jack views teamwork as essential to achieving the best outcomes for his clients. "When everyone feels like they are a stakeholder in the process, we ultimately deliver the best results for clients," Jack said.???

Yes, a strong team consists of people with the necessary skills and experience to do their job. But those who feel they are part of something bigger and are cross trained in other functions help the team pitch in when they are needed. Jack strives to have everybody in the firm "at the table," trained and able to do virtually every task they do--from lawyers, paralegals, and legal assistants to administrative.???

If everyone is cross-trained and works as a team, someone else can step up and carry the ball when someone cannot do their job. However, teamwork can only happen when everyone has a team attitude about what the business does and how it does it. It requires looking at the end product and being proud that the company is doing purposeful and helpful work.???

Besides training everyone on specific job skills, Jack believes in training regularly and often to improve their skills and relationships with other team members continually. Specifically, Jack seeks training about situational awareness and putting themselves in others' shoes to gain perspective on the task and challenges people face with their work, which goes back to teamwork and that no one person is responsible or can take credit for the outcome.???

Teamwork can also be manifested in the tools you use to run your business. For example, at Gilchrist Aviation Law, all of the documents for a job are housed electronically and stored on a shared file, so anyone on the team can access them, enabling others to jump in and help out when needed.???

Character?

At Gilchrist Aviation Law, Jack also hires and trains employees on the company's values and the character traits needed to accomplish tasks. For example, the quality of humility is an interesting concept for lawyers. But through training in humility, the team has learned that the opposite of humility is pride. Pride is an excellent thing in the proper context, but being proud and unable to accept instruction or correction is not a good thing. So, training the staff to understand that encouraging others, working together and getting results sometimes requires humility.???

Jack bases his hiring on character qualities that foster the best employee performance and tenure. Yes, having the necessary skills and education to do a job is essential, and he will always examine a resume before hiring. But it is more important to start the hiring process by identifying the character traits needed for the specific role and then hiring the person that is qualified and possesses the necessary character traits. ??

For example, if you hire someone to answer the phones, you will want someone with hospitality built into their DNA. We've all experienced bad customer service from someone that is not hospitable—they probably shouldn't have been hired for that role in the first place. Once you identify the character qualities crucial for the position, Jack encourages hiring managers to make them a part of the hiring process.???

Character traits should also tie into the overall goals and values of the organization. For example, teamwork is possible if your team consists of people who recognize another person's worth. These character qualities make up the heartbeat of a team and can either make or break it. For example, at Jack's business, where interdependence and the spirit of pitching in and helping others is part of the culture, Jack looks for people with a serving mentality or servitude character. ??

Finally, character also applies to going into business with someone else. If your character traits are better together as a union, the team is stronger. Before considering going into business with someone else, Jack encourages you to spend as much time interviewing and understanding the person to understand if their character qualities match yours.???

Onboarding and investing in the team??

Jack believes that training and onboarding are key to having a good team.??

Once you have hired the right person for the job based on the character qualities you need, onboarding and training are one of the most important steps you can take to invest in your future with the company. If you do not train or onboard employees correctly, they can feel lost, and eventually, you lose them because they were not properly onboarded. ??

This may include having a new employee shadow each employee until they understand the process and feel comfortable doing it independently. This teaming-up approach has reduced turnover for Gilchrist Aviation Law. Jack has even built this training and mentorship program into the overall bonus program for employees.??

Credit the team?

As a firm believer in teamwork, Jack believes he credits most of his success to the team that supports his work efforts and by the grace of God. Even though not all people who helped him along the way are still working for him, he believes they are part of the firm's overall success story.?

Jack views investing in people as part of his purpose and daily work—to serve those who work alongside him and those to whom he provides legal services. Even though he did not aspire to practice law in the beginning, it seems the character qualities of encouraging and caring for people that drove him from the start helped shape how he practices law today.?

Becoming an entrepreneur?

For those wanting to go out on their own as an entrepreneur, Jack suggests asking what the overall goal is and what it means for them to become one, to ensure they are heading into the journey for the right reasons. Often, people may believe they want to be an entrepreneur so they can get rich quickly, or they will only have to answer to themselves. However, in reality, we're always working with or for someone else, and the path to success doesn't come with a guaranteed paycheck.??

Entrepreneurship is a great path if you see an opportunity you can fill and you head into it for the right reasons. The reality is that if you build something, you probably will end up hiring other people and then essentially, you will be working for them. If you don't attempt to make employees happy or make a satisfying workplace, then you will not keep them very long.???

The path to becoming a business owner can be fulfilling, especially if you enjoy what you do. However, remember that the path is full of tough decisions, hard work and continuous improvement.???

Jack’s perspective on entrepreneurship is just as distinct and remarkable as the other interviews in the Entrepreneur Close-Up series. If Jack’s story strikes a chord with you, and you are interested in discovering how a passion and values can pave the way for a fulfilling and enduring career, then you can explore the other entrepreneurs’ interviews available here.??