Hilton Hotels Corporation’s executive vice president and general counsel Madeleine Kleiner says it was a fluke that she landed at the head of two sterling legal departments during her career.
Kleiner, who received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her law degree from Yale Law School, was firmly ensconced for 19 years at the Los Angeles, California-based law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.
If there had been a vote, Kleiner laughs, she would have been voted least likely to leave. That all changed when she received a call from a headhunter seeking names for prospective candidates to serve as the general counsel for H.F. Ahmanson & Company and its subsidiary, Home Savings of America, then a client of Kleiner’s firm.
Kleiner called one of the partners at the law firm, hoping to get some ideas for the headhunter. She was stopped short when he said that he would deny saying it, but that he thought it was such a unique opportunity that she should consider the position herself. Although initially resistant to the idea, when she met with the company’s executives and “something just clicked; the chemistry was just right,” she says.
Kleiner now reflects that the move in 1995 to become senior executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel was an excellent career choice. “It took me to a different realm with very broad responsibilities, like government affairs and regulation, but also human resources and corporate communications and charitable giving. It was much more than being a general counsel; it was a great fit with my mergers-and-acquisitions work.”
She served at H.F. Ahmanson until the company was acquired in 1998. At that point, her family encouraged her to take time off and Kleiner pursued that with gusto, becoming, as she calls it, a golf fanatic. She did occasionally field calls from headhunters when there was a nationwide search for a general counsel position, but overall, she says, she was content being in retirement.
That serene lifestyle ended when she spoke to a former law partner who was leaving Hilton Hotels Corporation. He asked Kleiner to meet with Hilton’s CEO and to talk about possibly filling his position. After that talk, Kleiner decided to make the move from retirement to her friend’s vacant position. “I am a believer in gut feelings, but I was also comfortable that if it didn’t work out, I could go back to retirement. That gave me a sense of freedom.”
Kleiner joined the company in January 2001, overseeing Hilton’s legal department and joining the executive committee. Kleiner later realized her law firm friend had gently steered her into Hilton because he had built an incredible, high caliber in-house legal team and trusted her to take good care of that team.
Kleiner says she was delighted to learn the complexities of the hotel business. In her case, the responsibilities loom large. The company develops, owns, manages, or franchises over 2,000 hotels, resorts, and vacation ownership properties.
She notes that she has been successful by applying time-tested management strategies. “The first thing is to be able to delegate effectively. I don’t require my team to loop me into each and every thing. I empower them, and that way I can leverage my skills. I tell them to keep me apprised of the things that are important to me.”
Kleiner says as a manager, she is at her best as a strategic thinker. “I step back and ask, ‘What is the outcome we want and what is the most effective way to get there? What cases do we need to fight tooth and nail, and which do we expedite settlement?'”
Along the way, Kleiner says she, like all other high achievers, has had to grapple with work/life balance. “It is a difficult issue. The hardest part of balance is not just child rearing, although that is one particular facet associated with a lot of guilt and stress. There is no magic solution for every individual.” She points out that a perfect day is rare and that it is much more reasonable to strive toward achieving an overall balance to one’s life.
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From the September/October 2005 issue of Diversity & The Bar®