While still Starbucks general counsel, a University of Washington law student emailed me asking for a meeting. Impressed, I agreed, and he came to my office. After exchanging pleasantries, the student asked boldly how he could someday be general counsel of a Fortune 500 company like Starbucks.
I was taken aback because as a law student, I didn’t know what a Fortune 500 general counsel was, and even if I had, it would be the last thing I saw myself doing. You see, on day one and throughout law school, I knew I had to give Uncle Sam four years of active-duty military service upon graduation in exchange for the U.S. Army having paid for my college education. That’s all I knew.