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THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: TALENT DEVELOPMENT AND INCLUSIVITY AT TYSON FOODS
DEI STRATEGY The Competitive Advantage:
Development and Inclusivity
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At Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, which boasts nearly 140,000 employees, Amy Tu, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Global Governance and Corporate Affairs (GGCA), has made a personal commitment to increasing diversity and ensuring that all members of the GGCA team have every opportunity to pursue their career as far as their ambitions will take them. By Joyce Jones
DIVERSITY OF OUR WORKFORCE AND INCLUSIVENESS our workplace are absolute priorities, especially given the variety of rich experiences, skills and talents we have globally,” Tu explains. “We know that these priorities provide a competitive advantage to our business, but more important, they are fundamental to our company’s core values. To make meaningful progress, we must be committed personally to a healthy and open environment for diversity to thrive.”
Under Tu’s leadership, the GGCA team recently launched a 360-degree strategy and council for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), which focuses on six pathways to drive positive outcomes. In partnership with internal teams and firms that Tyson works with externally, the initiative is establishing policies that will “aggressively and relentlessly” drive DEI in Tyson’s workplaces. The DEI Council is led by members of the GGCA team and company senior executives to help engage employees and advance its goals.
According to Tu, the strategy includes creating an ecosystem that integrates the company’s spend data with DEI data to gain better insight into how its investments are being made and whether those investments help achieve DEI goals. Tu’s department has also redesigned its preferred provider network to include DEI priorities and monitors diversity data to ensure that outside firms are giving diverse attorneys opportunities to work on Tyson projects, going so far as to develop scorecards to measure performance.
“We are re-energizing our relationships with partner firms to provide feedback on progress while rewarding those who are exceeding expectations and engaging in different opportunities for pro bono support, including law, compliance, government affairs, audit and communications support to women- and minority-owned startups,” Tu says.
There is often reluctance among diverse employees to put themselves forward for opportunities to lead that would move their careers forward. That may be due in part to a dearth of role models who understand or share their journeys. But Tu, a Chinese American woman, goes the extra mile to ensure that her team members can take advantage of opportunities they might not have under a different leader.
Darryl Wilson, who serves as corporate counsel in GGCA’s commercial litigation division, has worked at Tyson for seven months. It is his first experience working in a corporate environment. Tu was on his interview panel and “was very open and willing to talk about her journey,” he recalls, which demonstrated a level of care that increased his desire to join the company.
“She showed me that she’s a general counsel who understands the background of diverse attorneys and what they have to do to get to where they want to be. It showed a commitment and willingness to pour into team members, which was definitely a reason to join Tyson,” he says.
Wilson, who is vice chair of the DEI Council, shared how Tu joins him and other members of the commercial litigation team for lunch on an almost weekly basis to get to know them better and hear their perspectives on the cases they’re working on.
“Our bosses are our bosses, obviously, but she wants to communicate directly with the lawyers handling particular matters, especially ones that are high risk. She prides herself on having connections with the members on her law team instead of getting all of the information from the assistant general counsels,” he says.
Tu also provides team members opportunities to interact with other higher ups whose paths they would not normally cross, such as the time she invited Wilson to attend the grand opening of Tyson’s Humboldt plant in Tennessee. This enabled him to interface with senior vice presidents and other business leaders.
“On the flight, I got to sit across from our then-CEO and have a conversation with him about ways to help the business grow and show team appreciation,” Wilson says, adding that such experiences helped bring him out of his shell.
Darryl Wilson
ACCELERATING DEI
Advancing DEI has always been a priority for Tu. “In my role, I feel that I have a special responsibility to accelerate DEI through education and by action. In order for our team members to believe there is opportunity for them to lead and develop, they have to see the possibilities,” she says. Her team members are encouraged to actively participate in business resource groups, which have leadership visibility across the company to advance various causes.
“As a company, we made a commitment in fiscal year 2021 to have diverse candidate pools for manager positions and above for at least 80% of the roles and we’ve
– Amy Tu
DEI STRATEGY
over-delivered. In the last two years within the Law Department, we’ve increased our racial and ethnic diversity – by double in some cases – and continue to increase our representation of LGBTQ+ and veteran team members,” Tu adds.
When asked where she looks for diverse talent, Tu says enthusiastically, “Everywhere!
Diversity comes in all shapes, sizes and forms. What is most important is to have an inclusive environment where people feel comfortable being themselves – a space that is free from judgment and fosters creative thinking.”
Tu has found that tapping into universities is a good way to build a pipeline of diverse talent. Tyson offers externship and internship programs to expose college students to corporate work, which gives the company visibility and the opportunity to engage with potential future talent. “We are also exploring opportunities to expand our reach beyond the region and continue to seek out opportunities and partnerships where we can elevate our DEI priorities.”
Tu’s zeal for this mission has spread companywide. An overwhelming number of applicants applied to join the DEI Council and its members are highly engaged. They are taking on additional responsibilities and gaining more visibility at higher levels in the Tyson organization. “We just need to create the environment to allow for natural and organic growth,” Tu says.
Michelle Georges, who is an attorney in Tyson’s Prepared Foods Business Unit, credits Tu for Tyson’s improvement in creating an environment where discussion on diversity and inclusion can happen. She notes that changes at the company happened very soon after Tu arrived. “Up to that point, leadership consisted primarily of white males, so I was happy to see someone who did not fit that mold assume such a prominent position at our company and in my department,” she says.
Georges earned her J.D. several years after earning her bachelor’s degree and began her career at Tyson as a paralegal because it was the only position available at the time. She had hope that she could transition to the inhouse team in the future. Soon after Tu became General Counsel and restructured the department, an attorney role opened up. Georges applied and got the job. Georges, who serves on the DEI Council, believes that company leadership has experienced an evolution thanks to Tu. She says senior leaders, like the vice president who is mentoring her, are embracing opportunities to uplift more junior team members. Georges also believes she has had more opportunities to present in front of senior leaders like Tu than she would have had previously. Tu is also credited with increasing company membership in various organizations, such as the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), Black In-House Counsel and the American Bar Association, simply by encouraging attorneys to join and participate in webinars and meetings for Black in-house counsel. Tu believes that active participation in such organizations demonstrates Tyson’s commitment to diversity and career growth and enables the corporation to share best practices and network with others who share its values. “You have to be willing to be creative in your approach to finding diverse talent. You may have to go outside the avenues you’ve previously relied on. This means being Michelle Georges open to engaging with new and different organizations to change and broaden your network. If you are facing challenges, such as location, you have to be much more creative in what you offer and where and how you look in order to overcome that challenge,” Tu explains.
Chevon Fuller
Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Global Business and People Law
DEI 6 Pathways to Impact
Under Tu’s leadership, the GGCA team recently launched a 360-degree strategy and council for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), which focuses on six pathways to drive positive outcomes.
DE&I Council The body that provides day-to-day leadership for DE&I efforts. Members are selected through a robust application and interview process.
Governance Pro Bono Beyond legal assistance, this program provides resources from across the CLO organization including legal, communications, audit, and more.
Human Resources A partnership with HR to implement strategies around candidate interviews and hiring, retention, and training.
360 Degree Approach We focus our efforts across multiple areas of impact: internal, outside counsel/vendors, DE&I organizations, and our community.
Good Faith Efforts Each Team Member takes actions to engage with and support DE&I programs and activities.
Outside Counsel and Vendors We partner with firms and companies that share our commitment to DE&I.
DEI STRATEGY
COMMITMENT TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
With Tu helping to lead, Tyson is creating an environment that fosters career development.
“The message we continue to drive is that professional development and a growth mindset are always important – no matter where a person is in their career,” says Tu. “This begins on day one in a role and continues to grow from there. When you hire someone, it is because you see the value they can bring to a role. As leaders, we must invest in that potential – provide opportunities to stretch and provide room to fail.”
As part of Tyson’s commitment to career development, a Law Progression program has been implemented to clearly define career paths in the department and the requirements for progression. A steering committee composed of law leaders oversees the nomination and selection process for progression to ensure there is transparency about expectations and development to foster and enable growth as a world-class organization.
Regardless of a person’s identity group, Tyson looks for a variety of characteristics in all prospective employees, including intellectual curiosity, diverse professional and personal experiences, authenticity, a sense of humor and a clear passion for the work that they do.
“One thing we do at Tyson is to ensure not only a diverse pool, but a diverse panel conducting the job interviews. That means making sure you have your interviewers reflect diversity and inclusion as much as your candidate slate. Then, empower them to ask the questions to draw out those characteristics and look at past experiences and facilitate conversations that bring those traits to light,” Tu explains.
When Sainabou Sonko, corporate counsel for Global Litigation, was being recruited a year ago, Tu was one of her interviewers. “For someone in her position to make time to meet candidates and get to know them was for me very telling about the type of leader she is,” Sonko says. “And she continues to make herself available to candidates after they join Tyson. We can have one-on-one time with her, and she makes it very obvious that she’s available to talk if needed. She is a hands-on manager who also lets us work independently but is always available to help.”
Tu being a woman and person of color in such a powerful position is also important to Sonko. Had Tu not created the DEI Council (which Sonko serves on), she feels her career might not have evolved the way it has. Being a member of the Council has put her in a leadership position that she may not have been in otherwise, and it has also increased her ability to learn from Tu. Explains Sonko: “She understands the challenges that people face. She makes DEI a very important part of team development and to me that makes a world of difference.”
Tu, who serves as the executive sponsor for Tyson’s Asian & Allies and Women’s Business Resource Groups and on MCCA’s board, believes it is her obligation to pay forward the extraordinary success she has achieved so that others can also reach their career goals.
She says, “Make it a priority, then show up and engage. Bring your passion and it will inspire others. And talk about it – share that passion to get the word out. It’s also important to understand and channel your sphere of influence.”
With the roles she holds at Tyson and the MCCA, Tu says, “I am able to elevate and amplify the message of equity for team members and legal professionals. Playing an active role in mentoring diverse talent is an absolute expectation I have for my leaders. It is critical to take action and find opportunities to pay it forward.”
Linklaters: D&I and business objectives go hand in hand.
Linklaters has made a public pledge to improve representation of Black and Latinx minorities and ethnic lawyers. The firm is using a fivepillar plan to achieve that goal: enabling the next generation to reach their aspirations; discovering and developing Black professionals into the firm; focusing on creating an inclusive culture; improving the playing field to make sure everyone has opportunities in the firm; and setting up partner mentors.
Richard C. Smith is a versatile white-collar defense and trial lawyer based in the firm’s DC Office. He is Senior Sponsor for the Black Affinity Network of the Americans (BANA) at Linklaters as Partner Advocate. Richard shares his career journey and why Linklaters is so focused on creating an inclusive culture.
Why did you become a lawyer?
I grew up in Atlanta and later moved with my family to Alabama, going from a school that was all African American to a place where they were just starting to integrate schools. When I arrived, it was a tense environment; there were riots, and if I missed the bus my teammates drove me to my side of town to make sure I got home without getting beat up.
In the ninth grade, I had an African American business class teacher who spoke about change, and how change was made through the law — that’s what interested me in the law. When you grow up in that environment you want to affect change. If you're going to make a difference and make lives better for others, you have to understand how the legal system works to be in a position to advocate for others.
What have your experiences in government brought your career?
Governmental experience helped me understand how to relate to a jury, because later I was trying cases in jury pools of other people that didn't look or sound like me — 75% Anglo Saxon Protestant — an invaluable experience I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. Later, as a state prosecutor to the federal court in Houston, I learned to try cases to a Latinx jury pool, with 90% Latinx, 8% Anglo Saxon Protestant, and 2% Black.
Five years as a state prosecutor and 14 as a federal prosecutor allowed me to really hone my craft as a trial lawyer — in a courtroom, in any state, whether a federal or state court — which fast-forwarded my career. I was able to leave the Department of Justice and enter the private practice of law as a partner from day one.
What would be your top three pieces of advice to your younger self?
One: when you're in school, don't be there just to survive; be there to win, get the best grades you can, and take advantage of the extracurricular activities so that you can better position yourself to compete for positions in the private sector. Do the moot courts, the trial teams, and write for the journals.
Two: take advantage of mentorship. In big law, less than 3% of partners in America are Black. In a heavily white male-dominated environment it becomes important to be able to find mentors and sponsors who don't look like you.
Thirdly: do what you love to do. When I'm trying cases, people say that it is a lot of work. To me, it’s not, because I love it. I'm willing to do the things that it takes to do that to perfect my craft. And when you perfect your craft, then reach back and teach someone else, because the profession will never become diverse otherwise.
You recently became Partner Advocate for the African American affinity group, representing all African American members of staff. Why is inclusivity so important, and what does this reveal about Linklaters’ approach?
When I got hired here, I was asked to serve as the Senior Sponsor for the Black Affinity Network of the Americans (BANA) as Partner Advocate. It's an opportunity to help the firm reach its D&I goals, which is to create an inclusive culture and environment for everyone, regardless of background, identity, or circumstances, pushing for people to reach their full potential.
