Compiled for the LCLD Board of Directors every Wednesday, this digest is designed to brief you on the latest headlines about LCLD Members and organizations, as well as thought-provoking articles on diversity in the legal profession, talent development, mentoring, and leadership. Past issues of the Digest are also archived on the LCLD web site.
If you have questions about the Digest, articles you'd like to share, of if you would like to subscribe, please email Caitlin Puffenberger at cpuffenberger@lcldnet.com.
1. The Climb Up: Lockheed Martin’s GC Focuses on Resilience and Gratitude
Inside Counsel, 10/11/16
LCLD Member Maryanne Lavan, General Counsel of Lockheed Martin, discusses her career path, how to be an effective leader, promoting diversity, and dealing with failure. “In addition to being resilient, I always stress gratitude, humility, and trying to appreciate others,” Lavan said. “It’s important to recognize that success isn’t just about yourself. It’s teamwork, reaching out, working hard always.”
2. Robert Grey Honored for Commitment to Diversity
ABA News, 10/13/16
Robert Grey, LCLD President and former President of the American Bar Association, received a Diversity Award from the ABA Forum on Construction Law’s Fall Meeting in Chicago earlier this month. The award recognized Grey for his “extraordinary leadership and lifetime of commitment to ‘moving the meter’ on diversity and inclusion.”
3. How Microsoft Uses a Growth Mindset to Develop Leaders
Harvard Business Review, 10/7/16
Research shows that companies that adopt a “growth mindset,” like LCLD Member corporation Microsoft Corp., are more likely to see leadership potential in their employees. At Microsoft, hackathons, high-risk projects, and the engagement of senior leadership in talent development all encourage different paths to leadership. “The company is already seeing the benefits in the form of more innovative ideas and products – and employees are developing leadership skills in unexpected places, at every level.”
4. We’re All a Little Biased, Even if We Don’t Know It
The New York Times, 10/5/16,
“Many Americans hear [implicit bias] as academic code for ‘racist,’” writes Emily Badger. In fact, implicit bias is just the brain making “automatic associations between concepts,” separate from our personal value systems. “To broach implicit bias isn’t to impugn someone’s values,” she says. “It’s to recognize that our values compete on a subconscious level with all the stereotypes we absorb from the world around us.” The challenge is not to get rid of our biases, but to learn how to interrupt them so we can pull them in line with our values.
5. Leading New York Law Firms Lag in Including Women and Minorities
The New York Times, 10/16/16
A confidential survey of 75 New York City law firms found that just 19 percent of partners are women, a slight increase from 2015, while the percentage of minority partners has remained flat. Several firms have hired chief diversity officers or promoted women to top leadership roles. Yet turnover rate for women and minority partners is double the rate for male equity partners, and minority women make up only 3 percent of firm partnerships. The 75 firms responded to the survey as part of a commitment to the New York City Bar Association to improve diversity.
6. A 44% Divide for Female and Male Law Partners, Survey Says
The New York Times, 10/12/16
“Female partners earned an average of $659,000 annually compared with an average of $949,000 for male partners,” according to a Major, Lindsey & Africa survey of 2,100 partners at large law firms around the country. The survey suggests women have trouble breaking into the “old boys network” that influences corporate hiring decisions. At 44 percent, this year’s gender pay gap is down just three percent from 2014.
