Since Telva McGruder, an engineer who has been with General Motors for nearly three decades, became the company's first chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer last year, her mission has spread through the company.

McGruder, 52, and her team have begun to break through barriers that often prevent DE&I work from impacting large companies. In the spring, they began rewriting job descriptions to focus on skills and ideas, in addition to degrees and experience. They plan to measure the percentage of representation on GM's board, the percentage of representation by employee category and pay equality by employee category.

GM's last two annual Sustainability Reports included dedicated sections that broke down diversity within the automaker's ranks and detailed DE&I opportunities, challenges and accomplishments.

"The more transparent we can be with ourselves and publicly, the more we're going to drive ourselves to leap toward those aspirational targets," McGruder told Automotive News in July.

McGruder has said the three pillars of DE&I are essential to recruiting and retaining a diverse work force. Companies have long focused on diversity alone, but their cultures must be inclusive and equitable to establish that diverse work force, she said.

"Inclusion leads, underpinned by equity," said McGruder. "Until you have those, you won't have diversity stick."