Doug Ross @ Journal

DC...

In D.C. on business. Coincidentally, my sister-in-law is flying here today because my brother has been offered a promotion to run his company's Washington office. My brother -- an ultra-bright, ultra-motivated person -- is currently general counsel for an RBOC, running a state-wide operation. The promotion would, I'm guessing, involve running all regulatory details for the entire multi-state operation.

Anyhow, his wife is flying up to look at houses. They live in a large, metro area but not nearly as large, metropolitan or as expensive as DC. They have a big, beautiful house in a relatively idyllic suburban setting. But, from what I can tell, a house near or inside the beltway that resembles their current one could run well over seven figures. Holy shnikes! And there's even sticker-shock on private schools: tuition in the DC area is about 2.5 times their current cost.

I'm sure the reason my brother got the offer, though, is because he's about the best you could ever bring to bear. Have an incredible level of detail to master (say, tens of thousands of pages of arcane regulatory details)? Need an ultra-competent courtroom demeanor and split-second verbal skills? You can't get much better than him.

There was a good story about him in their local business paper a while back.

On a blistering September afternoon last year, ... Ross listened to an endless stream of ... companies explain why [his company] should not be allowed to enter the market for long-distance telephone service. [They were] not in compliance with FCC standards, they said. [They] had not opened itself up to competition, they said. [They were] not allowing other carriers access to its network, they said. When it was his turn to speak in front of the ... Public Service Commission..., Ross held up a newspaper ad from rival MCI Corp. The ad's headline read, "You now have a choice." With that simple maneuver, Ross virtually erased the previous two hours of testimony and helped ensure a favorable ruling for [his company]. "For the entire two hours, everyone was saying there was no choice for consumers...," Ross said. "All we did was show the commission that there clearly was a choice. And the commission agreed with us."

Because in addition to being smarter and more motivated than about anyone you could put up against him, he brings one additional card to the table. Ultra-competitiveness. He hates to lose. And I don't recall him losing too often, whether it was running for president of seven organizations his senior year in high school (winning all seven), making editor of law review at a very serious law school, and making partner in his first job in near record time.

My advice for those going up against him? Settle.