We have all heard the phrase that “diversity is good business.”   We chose Georgia Pacific as our Featured Employer because we believe that this company is resolutely integrating diversity into its culture to create a true meritocracy as the foundation of its success.

Founded in 1927 as a wholesaler of hardwood lumber, Georgia-Pacific has grown through expansion and acquisitions to become one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of tissue, pulp, packaging, building products and related chemicals.  Its consumer brands include Quilted Northern®, Angel Soft®, Brawny®, Vanity Fair® napkins and Dixie® cups and tableware.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific LLC employs some 50,000 people at more than 300 locations worldwide.  The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange from 1949 until late in 2005 when it was acquired as a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas.  This acquisition immediately made Georgia-Pacific among the largest privately-held companies in the United States.

At GP, valuing diversity is articulated in the Respect principle of its Market Based Management® Guiding Principles, 10 principles that guide the company. The Respect principle, along with the principles of Integrity, Compliance, Value Creation, Principled Entrepreneurship™, Customer Focus, Knowledge, Change, Humility, and Fulfillment serve, in our viewpoint, to define the heart and culture of the company.  With entrepreneurship as a guiding principle, mid- to senior level lawyers placed at GP are given responsibility for a defined piece of the business and have a clear platform upon which they are measured.  How well will you do with your business?  The professionals that best integrate GP’s core values and ultimately demonstrate value creation and fulfillment for their business are rewarded with bonuses for individual performance.  GP also freely moves and promotes lawyers out of the legal department and into other positions throughout the company according to where they show their highest ability to generate the greatest value.  We believe that led by its guiding principles, GP will prove to be a model for the meaning of “diversity is good business.”