L-R Burt Fealing, Ricardo Nunez, Kristi Matthews and Peter Muniz. Photo credit: John Disney/ALM.

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, efforts to improve have to be intentional.

That was one of the major takeaways from a panel discussion on diversity May 18 in Atlanta that featured in-house legal leaders from top companies.

“It takes a lot of work and a lot of energy, and you have to be very conscientious of it all across the organization,” said Burt Fealing, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Southwire Co.

“You have leadership who are very interested in making the change or you have individuals who are early in their career who are very interested in making the change, and then you have the layer in between, and that's where great initiatives can fall apart,” he said.

Fealing and other in-house attorneys spoke to lawyers and members of diverse law student groups from various Atlanta schools at Greenberg Traurig's annual Associates Committee for Diversity & Inclusion Speaker Series. In addition to urging attendees to be conscientious about their efforts to increase diversity and inclusion, the panelists offered some additional insights.

Be Aware of the Difference Between the Two

“Diversity is basically being invited to the party, and inclusion is basically being asked to dance,” said Ricardo Nunez, GC at SWM International, summing up the distinction between the two concepts.

Kristi Matthews, senior labor and employment counsel at Newell Brands, added, “Diversity is making sure we have different thoughts, perspectives, walks of life, and inclusion is making sure those thoughts are welcome. It's one thing to be in the room. It's another to be heard.”

Encourage 'Cognitive Diversity'

Panelists emphasized that another important type of diversity is making sure people with varying career and academic backgrounds have the chance to get hired.

Matthews said her route in-house, for instance, wasn't necessarily the traditional one. Before joining Newell in 2015, she spent more than eight years not in Big Law but in government as senior counsel for labor, employment and litigation for the city of Atlanta.

And it's not just in its legal department where consumer goods company Newell has “opened the pathways” to getting a foot in the door, Matthews said.

For positions in various departments, the company started considering college students and graduates with “other majors, and that has opened up a wealth of diverse audiences,” she said. “And we are seeing the benefits now.”

Peter Muniz, VP and deputy GC at The Home Depot Inc., frames it as “cognitive diversity”—the inclusion of people with different sets of experiences and skill sets. Doing so, he said, helps set the right tone and culture at the top.

The term “'cognitive diversity' resonated more with the business team,” he said. “They understood how people with different sets of experiences and skill sets is good for business.”

Be Able to Measure Diversity in Dollars and Cents

It likely will take more than framing the issue in a certain way for everyone in a particular organization to buy into a shift in values that emphasize diversity and inclusion, the panelists agreed. It comes down to the bottom line, they said.

“You've got to measure it; you've got to track it and get it exposed to the highest levels of the organization,” Muniz said. “If you don't measure it, it's not going to get done. You're going to hear a lot of platitudes, but it's just not going to get done.”