Pierre Gentin, global general counsel of the consulting giant McKinsey & Co., said he manages his legal department in two dimensions—professionalism and passion.

Unlocking that passion, he said, means giving all legal department employees the freedom to bring their own style and charisma.

"People come to work and have AirPods in their ears, and you can actually see that they are physically energized. They're listening to a podcast or listening to something inspirational and then they take off their AirPods and you see the energy level collapse," Gentin said.

Gentin was the keynote speaker Monday on the opening day of ALM Global's two-day General Counsel Conference East in New York City. The session, moderated by Heather Nevitt, editor-in-chief of Corporate Counsel, Inside Counsel and Global Leaders in Law, was titled "The Transformative Power of Professionalism and Passion."

Gentin, who joined London-based McKinsey in 2019 and is based in New York, said in-house lawyers are not always clear about what objectives they're trying to achieve or what it means to be a professional in their organization.

He sees the road map as straightforward.