James Sheets, Iowa-based attorney has significant experience in commercial law, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, and contract negotiation. His career reflects a combination of transactional thoroughness, global business knowledge, and evolving compliance, data privacy, and federal regulations. He has also has a background in commercial litigation with real estate, zoning, and financial matters. He is licensed to practice in several jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia, Iowa, Maryland, and Minnesota.
Sheets has excelled in in-house counsel roles with major U.S. corporations, including Rite Aid Corporation, Acoustic LP, and Genuine Parts Company. As in-house counsel at Rite Aid, he contributed to the organization’s compliance with a Federal Trade Commission consent order in drafting and revising of critical service agreements. These included SaaS, PaaS, digital platform, data sharing, pharmacy services, and vendor agreements with firms like Google Cloud, Microsoft, DataRobot, and PWC.
Sheets understands state, federal and international compliance regulations, including HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, as well as the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act. In bringing together his transactional skill, experience with state and federal law, he has structured, drafted, and negotiated complex third-party agreements involving sensitive data transfers, international privacy laws, and digital education, health, and date security platforms.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
It is important to lock in your most productive hours, which are the morning hours, by keeping a clear schedule. The evening before, I always review and itemize the matters which need to be completed for the next day and use this as an action list.
How do you bring ideas to life?
First, it’s important to capture the idea. This can be done through a memo to oneself or a communication to another with some sort of deliberative planner. You then have to implement it, usually in the form of collaboration. Bouncing an idea on social media, X, or LinkedIn works.
What’s one trend that excites you?
The internet and how the world is increasingly becoming more closely tied with others as they react to a common idea or event.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Keeping a personal journal. I have done this since I was 16, a rite of adulthood.
What advice would you give your younger self?
The things we regret in life are not the things we have done, but the things we failed to try.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
Listening to almost all sides of the spectrum of opinions. I listen to CNN and Fox, as well as several foreign news sources, even if they discuss or allege implausible scenarios. I will try to listen to better understand the person rather than to challenge a particular set of facts. I do not think things are more divided these days – opinions were very divided during the Civil War period, or the Vietnam War days, but we are losing our ability to discuss our differences.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
The value of travel as a form of life education.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Go jogging or play the guitar.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Persistence in the face of adversity. I am a life-long learner, I do not think one can “age” out of learning or reach a plateau on their life skills.
The other strategy is building life skills. This is something I did not understand earlier, but as you develop any career, you should also be developing life skills such as communication, and developing an understanding of the vast array of human behaviors and motives, as well as honing your judgment and discernment.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
There are certain people who are bad actors from the start, and you cannot change or accommodate these people. There are certain assumptions that any workplace or environment must have, otherwise it is just career opportunism and cronyism, which results in a toxic workplace.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Adobe products tend to be quite versatile and can be used across all types of documents and platforms.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
Christiane Amanpour’s Amanpour & Company. She is intelligent, precise, and relevant.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
Key learnings
- The smaller details of one’s personal life can be very revealing.
- We should all remain humble in ourselves.
- We all have commonalities in our lives that bring us together.
- Education and business are really all about personal relationships and helping people grow and achieve their aspirations.