W H AT I L E A R N E D A B O U T I N C LU S I O N A N D W H Y I T M AT T E R S By: John T. Winemiller Merchant & Gould, P.C.
THE IMPORTANCE OF VISIBILITY TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION EFFORTS I’ve appreciated the highly personal reflections on diversity and inclusion shared by KBA members in this series of columns. Two themes running through these offerings resonate for me: Having good role models and being seen and heard underlie success, confidence, and satisfaction throughout life, including one’s work as an attorney. I couldn’t agree more. Here is my take. I was a high school sophomore forty years ago when the world first began learning about HIV/AIDS. The news of an unstoppable virus was sobering in the extreme. The hateful, uncharitable reaction of far too many people was equally terrifying. Yet coming of age during that pandemic taught me valuable lessons of humility, humanity, and dignity. It also taught me the value of visibility. Mark C. was one of my closest friends in high school. As the only kid in my school who was out, his path was too often rocky. Even so, he focused on the things that mattered to him and lived his truth. Scott M. was one of my closest friends in college. Smart, outspoken, and proud, he is a gay Black man who taught me as much about advocacy and diversity as anyone. And that was before he went to Columbia Law School. Howard B. was my professor-mentor in graduate school (before I became a lawyer). He and his partner Roger W. were the epicenter of gay culture in the university community. Happy, generous, successful, they
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were role models in the truest sense. Through examples like these, I quickly grasped that being visible is a key part of being included in the world. This is true for everyone, but it can be particularly important for people traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession. A few years ago, I participated in a program sponsored by the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. One of the keynote speakers described the value of visibility with a catchy phrase: “To be one, you need to see one.” We all need role models. There’s a corollary to the importance of visibility: Supporting the goals of diversity and inclusion means taking affirmative steps to make others visible. When we acknowledge a colleague’s contributions – and sometimes just when we acknowledge their presence – we can empower and encourage them. There is no cost to us for such recognition, but the value to our colleague can be immense. But even more, we need to understand that recruiting and hiring diverse attorneys and staff, while essential, is not the end goal. We need to act intentionally to involve diverse attorneys in the work of our practices – in pitches and other business development efforts, in substantive work, and in billing credit. Such fulsome involvement and mentorship not only will promote our colleagues’ professional development, but also go a long way to retaining talent and building a better bar. It’s also simply the right thing to do.
DICTA
September 2021
