Lawyers are people too, you know.

It’s a simple premise that yields big results.

In a recent conversation with a few of our Senior Advisors, I was struck by the humanity of Helen Pudlin’s approach to managing and developing legal talent.  Having worked with her as a client before she joined the BarkerGilmore team, I knew Helen was recognized in the workplace for the way she treated others as individuals and ensured they were operating at their best and highest use.

General Counsel pay continues to rise at an accelerated rate, keeping pace with the increased expectations that the CEO and Board place upon them. It wasn’t long ago that a $1M compensation package seemed like a lot of money for a General Counsel, yet today’s total compensation can be more than ten times that.

Like other executives, General Counsel are tasked with identifying and developing their successor. While hiring a new General Counsel from the outside can be costly, considering expenses like executive search fees, buying out unvested equity and unpaid bonuses, and relocation, the benefits of promoting an internal candidate to General Counsel are significant. Moreover, there is always a chance that an outside hire will not align with the leadership team or integrate well into the corporate culture. But, if properly mentored, the internal successor should already have a deep understanding of the business, sound relationships intact with the leadership team and Board, and alignment with company culture.

The results of a recent global survey of more than 1,700 companies published in the Harvard Business Review showed that diversity has a favorable impact on financial performance. This data is further fodder for the discussion of the necessity of diversity in our workforces.

The Academy Award-winning movie, The Right Stuff, inspires us to think about having the “right stuff” from a new perspective. This mysterious mix is not one single quality, but a composite of attributes driven by a commitment to an ideal and a willingness to keep striving to achieve new levels of success. I’m struck by how this was reflected in the lives of the pilots in the movie who eventually became astronauts; they had to reach beyond their professional status as pilots to embrace a much broader vision of themselves — and that is what eventually defined them.

Reviewing a recent survey conducted by global management consulting firm BCG, I was struck by the finding that “Diversity plus inclusion is the source of real value.” Since our clients are always looking for diverse talent and striving to improve diversity and inclusion within their organizations, I asked one of our Senior Advisors, Michelle Banks, to share her thoughts on the subject. Michelle and I discussed the idea that legal departments should be considering the next step beyond diversity and inclusion: creating a culture of belonging.