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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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What are the Gerson Lehrman Group CouncilsSM?
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The Gerson Lehrman Group Councils are industry-focused networks of executives, physicians, scientists, engineers, attorneys, market researchers and other professionals from around the world. Members of the GLG Councils are compensated for consulting with global business and investment leaders on topics within their area of expertise. Council Members SM provide their industry-specific knowledge through telephone consultations, online surveys and in-person meetings, among other consulting methods. |
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| Q |
Who manages the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils?
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Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) manages the world’s leading network of experts, the GLG Councils. Our services and web-based software help the world’s leading financial services firms, professional service firms, corporations, and nonprofits find, engage, and manage experts. GLG carefully recruits experts and assembles them into global networks, organized into and known as the GLG Councils.
GLG has the world’s largest expert recruiting team and most scalable expert contracting systems to support this constantly growing expert network. All to ensure that decision makers have fast access to expertise that is relevant, essential, and appropriate to their research needs.
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Who are the business and investment leaders Council Members consult with?
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Council Members consult with business and investment leaders from the world’s leading financial services firms, professional service firms, corporations, and nonprofits who would like to be better informed on various industry topics. Discussions with Council Members provide them with continuing education on their research interest, allowing them to make more intelligent decisions. |
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What do Council Members do?
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Council Members provide insight and education to decision-makers through different types of interactions with our Clients, ranging from quick inquiries to comprehensive due diligence efforts. Many of these interactions are telephone consultations. Other interactions include educational events (such as formal seminars, collaborative discussions, site tours and private in-office meetings); written products, (including surveys, GLG News, single-author reports, collaborative multi-author reports, and market studies) and various forms of in-depth and ongoing consulting, such as serving as an expert witness in a litigation. |
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How am I paid?
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When you apply, you are asked to enter what you feel is a fair hourly rate for your time. Council Members should consider their position, experience, scarcity of others with similar knowledge, etc. If you do not know what rate to choose, a Council Manager can help guide you. Also, Gerson Lehrman Group has bi-annual review periods if you’d like to request an honorarium change once your initial rate is set. After completing a telephone consultation, Members log in to councils.glgroup.com to invoice Gerson Lehrman Group. Payment is prompt – usually within seven to ten days, once verified. Payments for surveys and in-person meetings are sent automatically once those projects are completed. |
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| Q |
What topics will I be expected to discuss during a project?
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Gerson Lehrman Group clients are typically interested in either broad discussions about a general industry or more detailed information about a particular product, service or trend. You may not discuss confidential information with our clients, and such disclosures can seriously harm you and our clients. Under the securities laws, for example, any disclosure of confidential information may require the client to abandon a previously planned-upon investment. |
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How do I know whether I am permitted to discuss a particular topic?
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If you are in doubt, do not discuss the topic. You may be subject to one or more confidentiality agreements that prevent you from discussing certain topics. Also, certain kinds of information are likely confidential in nature, including but not limited to information about earnings projections and other forecasts, corporate strategies, unpublished clinical trial data, regulatory approval for a drug, new product developments and inventions, awards of large contracts, significant litigation, proposed mergers or acquisitions or any other significant but undisclosed negative or positive news relevant to the company. |
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What do I do if a confidential topic comes up during a project?
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Don’t discuss that topic. If ever you feel that you cannot continue the discussion without revealing confidential information or otherwise violating an obligation to an employer or third party, you should terminate the discussion. In such situations, Gerson Lehrman Group will pay you for the time you set aside for that interaction. |
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How do I become a Council Member?
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To become a Council Member you must complete the online application, complete a short online tutorial and sign the online GLG Terms and Conditions of Council Membership. Council Members are required to annually re-resign the Terms and Conditions and complete the tutorial to remain eligible to participate in projects. Applicants to the GLG Councils who have signed a separate confidentiality agreement are permitted to view open projects and certain other information but are not yet eligible to participate in the Councils. |
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What are the GLG Terms and Conditions of Council Membership?
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The Terms and Conditions is a binding contract between GLG and its Council Members. It is designed to protect Council Members, GLG clients and GLG. Among other things, it requires Council Members to honor their obligations to employers and other third parties, and it requires Council Members to follow GLG’s additional rules. For example, GLG prohibits Council Members from consulting about their own companies. GLG also places limitations on the type and amount of consulting that Councils Members may do through GLG unless the Council Member’s employer has provided written consent to GLG and enrolled in GLG’s Member Programs. The Terms and Conditions also requires Council Members to keep strictly confidential any information they learn about clients and about their projects. |
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Who is responsible to determining my eligibility to join the Councils and to participate in projects?
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You are. GLG does not make that determination for you. Prior to joining the GLG Councils you should review employment agreements, employee manuals, codes of conduct, consulting agreements and other similar policies and agreements (in each case as applicable). Once you have joined the Councils, it is your responsibility to decline projects that are inappropriate for you and to decline to discuss topics that present a conflict for you. |
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| Q |
Don’t some companies have policies about their employees doing outside consulting?
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Yes. Some companies have policies concerning participation in outside consulting activities by their employees, and you should confirm with your employer whether you are subject to a policy. You must comply with any such restrictions. Additionally, while GLG relies on its Council Members to assess and honor their own obligations, GLG also regularly reaches out to companies to ask about their policies. And if GLG learns that a company prohibits outside consulting, GLG will automatically exclude current employees of that company from participating in the GLG Councils. |
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Does GLG keep my information confidential?
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You should not join the GLG Councils if you would not want your participation to be known to your employer or to other third parties to whom you owe obligations. In the interest of transparency, GLG reserves the right to share information about you with your current employer and to anyone else whose consent may be relevant to your participation in the GLG Councils or in a particular Project. GLG also reserves the right to include information about you on its websites and other marketing materials, subject to your right to opt-out. If you wish to participate in GLG News or in GLG Events, however, any such opt-out would be ineffective. To learn more about your information rights, please see our privacy policy. |
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| Q |
I'm busy. How am I supposed to find the time for this?
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Gerson Lehrman Group respects the busy schedules of its Council Members. Council Members will only be contacted when their background matches a GLG client request, and Council Members may accept or decline an invitation to consult for any or no reason. There is never an obligation to consult and no minimum time commitment is required. |
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How often will I be invited to projects?
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That depends in large part upon the requests made by our clients. Gerson Lehrman Group makes no guarantees with respect to the number of projects that you will be invited to or participate in. |
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What are GLG Member Programs?
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Gerson Lehrman Group created Member Programs to enable Council Members to engage in ongoing or in-depth projects with our clients. Only Council Members in Member Programs are permitted to participate in more than three telephone consultations a year with a client or to prepare any written reports. Additionally, participation in GLG News and GLG Institute are exclusive to Council Members in GLG Member Programs. To meet program requirements, Council Members who are employees of companies must obtain written consent of their employers. |
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| Q |
What if I am not currently living in the US?
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If you live outside the United States you can still be a Council Member. Council Members and clients are located throughout the world. Projects occur across the globe and can be scheduled at convenient times for Council Members and clients. |
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