Gabrielle Bullock, Principal, Director of Global Diversity
Meg Brown, Principal, Chief Talent Officer

Interview Description
Perkins and Will established their formal Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) program in 2013 with a vision to make the firm more diverse and inclusive, more creative and successful, and to better represent the communities the firm serves. In this Deep Dive, Gabrielle and Meg will share lessons learned from Perkins and Will’s EDI journey, insights into the structure and elements of their program, and thoughts on where their work is headed in the future.

Speaker Bios
As the second black female to graduate from the architecture department of the Rhode Island School of Design, Gabrielle Bullock has been a key player in Perkins and Will’s success for over three decades, working in both the New York and Los Angeles studios where she became the first African American and first woman to rise to the position of Managing Director. Her unique role as the firm’s Director of Global Diversity and an award-winning principal, enables her to combine her passion for architecture and social justice to effect positive change.

As Chief Talent Officer, Meg Brown plays an integral role in enhancing Perkins and Will’s workplace culture, building teams, and ensuring a rewarding experience for staff at all levels. She’s responsible for recruitment, learning and development, benefits, compensation, performance management, talent brand communication, acquisition-related human resources, and coaching. Meg’s commitment to nurturing the human side of Perkins and Will’s design practice has led to a thriving firmwide culture of engagement, innovation, and collaboration.

Interview Summary

01:33 Tell us about how and why you established the Director of Global Diversity position?
02:04 75th Anniversary: Elevating Diversity and Inclusion
04:02 Personal, Demographic, Societal, and Business Motivations

06:10 What did your year of developing the program look like?
06:15 Deep Dive: Listening Tour

07:02 How did you know how to do this?
07:08 Informal Conversations

08:08 How did Perkins and Will build a broad coalition of support at the leadership level?
08:25 Start Conversations with CEO/Leadership
10:10 Make it a Safe Space

10:50 How did you move from the vision and strategic plan to implementation?
11:12 Three Impacts: Firm Culture, Profession, and Pipeline
11:30 Strategic Plan: Six Areas of Focus
13:50 Firm Demographic Assessment and Expanding Recruitment
16:45 Strategic Plan Advancement Evaluation
18:00 Staff Evaluation Values and Metrics
18:45 Foster Learning and Development on D&I
19:13 Measuring Inclusion and Engagement and Culture

20:30 How do you respond when people say “you can do this because you’re Perkins and Will?"
21:00 It's All Scaleable
21:20 Approach it like a Design Problem
22:30 Resource: AIA Guides for Equitable Practice
23:36 Consultant to Help Develop a Plan

23:55 Do you think it is important to keep one foot in practice (of Architecture) and the business responsibilities (EDI)?
24:10 Awareness of Impact on Work, Clients, and Communities

24:58 How are the EDI efforts structured between the Sponsor, HR, etc?
25:18 Diversity Champions
25:46 Diversity Council
26:26 Grassroots Efforts
27:56 Formation of JEDI Teams

29:45 What is JEDI and how has the program evolved since 2013, 2014, and even since the racial justice awareness of 2020?
30:10 Focus on Race
31:27 JEDI: Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

32:28 Do you need to start with D&I before J&E?
32:45 Start Internally
33:36 Statement vs Cultural Commitment

34:35 What does advancing the profession & building firm culture look like?
34:52 Getting Other Firms on Board
36:44 Outcome Examples: Honoring Juneteenth, Paid Parental Leave

39:17 What is your advice to an AE firm that is just getting started on their EDI journey?
39:35 Self Education and Awareness
40:28 This is a Journey
41:03 Conversation with Leadership to Clarify Goals

42:28 How do you prioritize your efforts & energy?
42:40 Take the Lead from Society and Staff
43:00 Race and Design
43:40 Identify Progress in Annual Report
44:50 Be Transparent

45:10 What are your priorities and thoughts going into 2021?
45:18 Focus on Opportunities for Black Architects
46:18 Business Imperative of Advancing Diversity
47:00 Acknowledge Milestones & Healthy Competition
47:45 Phil Freelon Design Competition

48:26 Is there anything you’d do differently if you did it again?
48:35 International Cultural Nuances

49:35 Can you share your system for tracking and measurement?
49:45 Narrative Response from Category Prompts
51:18 Smiley Face Graphic Metric

52:07 What has been the most rewarding part of the Perkins and Will EDI journey?
52:25 Progress in the Profession at Large
53:35 Impact of JEDI on the Work We Do
54:12 Project Example: Destination Crenshaw

54:56 What sort of budget (as a percent of revenue) does Perkins and Will dedicate annually to EDI initiatives?
57:40 Approximately 200k (Salary, Training, Events)

58:42 Can you tell us more about the Business Case/Imperative and how you measure it?
58:44 Research & Risks

1:00:00 What were a few of the baseline questions you used with each office during your assessment. Also, who was your audience at each office?
1:00:35 Wide Representation (without Principals)
1:01:17 Share Experience around EDI

1:02:43 How do you promote inclusiveness on your teams so that all employees can succeed? What programs are in place to promote inclusion?
1:03:08 Written Reminder to Consider D&I in Promotions
1:04:14 Evaluate Team Makeup
1:05:08 Diversity in People Entourage

1:06:25 What were your initial goals/metrics and how do you stand today against those goals today?
1:06:52 Advancing Our Culture
1:07:15 Measuring Demographics
1:08:35 Adding Cultural Competency as a Metric

1:08:45 What is Cultural Competency and how do you teach it?
1:08:53 Community as Design Partner

1:10:15 Do you think it is helpful to establish a diversity goal for black architects in our organizations (similar to 2030 goals)?
1:10:15 Yes

1:11:44 Can you share the 6 themes that emerged that were the basis for your action plan?
1:12:06 List of Themes

1:12:40 Should it be a goal to change the way arch & design schools are teaching to include the community more as a voice in the design process?
1:13:08 Movement to Increase BIPOC Representation

1:14:30 Where did you find internal resistance and how did you get through it?
1:15:10 Tracking is Optional
1:15:40 Differences of Opinion vs Resistance
1:16:50 Concerns About Cost & Time

1:17:20 How does ongoing training work, especially for onboarding new employees?
1:17:35 Unconscious Bias Training
1:18:20 JEDI in New Employee Orientation
1:18:58 Training the Trainer
1:19:30 Performance Review Process

1:20:04 How do you empower each studio's Diversity Champion to effect change? How do you encourage and reward this work so that it doesn't just become additional emotional/mental labor on top of regular job duties?
1:21:10 Clearly Defined Role and Team
1:22:18 Rewarding Best Practices

Read the Collaborative Notes

Members of our team and the KA Connect community took collaborative notes during this Deep Dive using Google Docs. Collaborative note-taking helped us summarize key takeaways, collect related links, and will provide us with a quick reference when we return to this topic in the future. We've found the notes quite useful so far and hope you will as well.

Read Notes