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Over the past decade or so, IBJ has added several awards to existing programs: a career achievement award for Women of Influence, for example, and the Mickey Maurer Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Fast 25.
One goal, of course, is to honor people who are making significant impacts in business and our community. But another is to bring our newest group of honorees together with a person whose wisdom could be helpful to their own journeys.
That was the case at last week’s Forty Under 40 breakfast, when Alumni Award winner Bob Hicks, chair of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, sat down with IBJ Publisher Nate Feltman for an on-stage chat about his career.
Hicks was part of the Forty Under 40 class of 2000. And at that time, though he had a law degree, he wasn’t practicing law. He was an executive vice president of CIT Group and CEO of RealMed Corp., part of a career detour into high-level finance work that took him through Chicago, Toronto and Manhattan.
“I’ve actually had three or four careers in 40 years,” Hicks told Feltman.
But despite the job changes, Hicks said he has turned down 20 jobs for every one he’s accepted. Often, he said, the grass looks greener in another job, but you’re trading one set of problems for another.
“I’m a big believer in generational resilience,” Hicks said, explaining that when challenges arise, his approach is to “grind through it and fix it, as opposed to changing” jobs.
“I think the first question is always: ‘Can I fix what’s wrong here? Can I make it better here? Can I leave my mark and invest?’” he said. “In my life, it’s mostly paid off taking that approach.”
That’s certainly been true at Taft. Hicks worked at Sommer Barnard, the Indianapolis law firm that in 2008 merged with Taft, from 1988 to 1996. He returned in 2002 and stayed, becoming Taft’s firmwide managing partner in 2017.
Since then, Taft has experienced dramatic growth both in employee headcount and revenue thanks to a deliberate strategy of mergers and integration. Under Hicks’ leadership, the firm has increased its attorney headcount 325% and revenue 575% and last year was 79th on the Am Law 100 list of largest U.S. firms.
Feltman also asked questions about Hicks’ leadership style and what he learned about leading at a time of growth.
“It’s setting a vision and getting people behind it to follow,” Hicks said. “Leadership is not about just doing it yourself. And I think that’s one of the biggest mistakes people make. They think: ‘I got it. I can do it. I’m going to be the hero here and just deliver the work.’”
But, Hicks said, “You’re never going to get to the scale you want to unless you can get other people following that vision and doing it.”
I certainly need to follow some of that advice.
Also, Hicks said, leaders need to worry less about getting people to like them and more about ensuring that employees know you care about them and value them.
“If you can get [your team] to respect your vision, respect your commitment, respect your kindness and your empathy and your strategy,” he said, “then I think they will follow you.”
You can listen to the entire conversation between Hicks and Feltman at IBJ.com/videos. Just click on the 2026 Forty Under 40 video.•
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Weidenbener is editor and assistant publisher of IBJ and The Indiana Lawyer. Reach her at [email protected].
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