Howie Wong is general counsel and corporate secretary at Toronto Community Housing, which is the largest landlord in Canada. Prior to joining Toronto Community Housing in 2005, Howie was an M&A lawyer for 19 years with Gowlings, a national Canadian law firm.
David Allgood’s office is surprisingly spartan. Search as you will, but do not expect to find fancy glass and marble, as would befit the Executive Vice President & general counsel of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the largest bank in Canada. Rather, David oversees 160 lawyers in 11 countries from a non-descript back office, where I sat in the hallway, waiting my turn to see him. But, don’t be fooled; he is definitely a power to be reckoned with in the banking world.
David’s approach to diversity is no different — no flash, just pure substance.
Diversity is a core value at RBC that emanates from the CEO down. Their website is impressive — chock-full of information, initiatives, progress reports and metrics. RBC has enough diversity awards on its mantel to make any mother proud.
RBC Law has a significant number of female leaders as well. Sixty percent of its executives and 40 percent of the senior managers are women. The number of diverse leaders is somewhat less, but laudable all the same.
David focuses on filling the pipeline at the entry-mid levels with the next generation of diverse leaders. When hiring, RBC mandates that the candidate pool for every vacancy include at least one female and one diverse candidate. A big challenge is the retention of female lawyers, which RBC Law addresses with various strategies, such as greater flex work. “We don’t have hard quotas here,” says David. “Rather, we have high goals and exert moral suasion.”
RBC Law has a long-standing summer mentorship program, aimed at giving marginalized students real-life law experience. They have also developed a lawyer exchange program with an aboriginal organization.
Earlier this year, David was one of 40 general counsel that formed Legal Leaders for Diversity and Inclusiveness to drive diversity in Canadian law departments and purchasing practices. Expect more on this in a future blog post.
As a senior RBC leader, David participates in a reverse mentorship program in which he mentors a diverse manager from another department in the bank. But, here is the twist: The mentee also mentors David on how to look at the bank through her eyes — both the opportunities and challenges. David believes this program sensitizes RBC leaders to what’s needed to break down diversity barriers.
RBC Law also expects diversity from its external firms. “Canadian firms are trying, but still have a ways to go in catching up to the US firms that can rhyme off their diversity stats at a drop of a hat,” says David. “We understand the challenges for the Canadian firms, but still exert moral suasion and expect results.” Remember the “velvet hammer” touch I mentioned earlier?
I couldn’t resist asking the prickly question: Should a white middle-aged lawyer be fearful of his opportunities at RBC Law when diversity is an imperative? David fixed his steely eyes on me and replied, “No. The diversity process forces management to look and hire beyond their comfort zone. But, the key is always hire and promote the very best candidate.” No argument from me on that one.