Tags: Diversity
An important report on diversity, groupthink and the need for fresh thinking and wider life experience on boards.
Speed read
Chapter Outline
Chapter 1 focuses on the importance of diversity and the challenge of groupthink.
Chapter 2 looks at gender diversity and the journey so far.
Chapter 3 discusses the focus on gender diversity and whether it has delivered on its full potential.
Chapter 4 discusses why inclusion requires a genuine commitment to change.
Chapter 5 offers a call to action.
Key Recommendations
About the report
Now more than ever, boards need diversity of thought and experience in tackling the challenges ahead.
Board appointments that are no more representative of the company’s employees, customers or supplier base will not bring the different perspectives needed to counter groupthink. Only through systemic change will better decisions be reached by individuals who look and think differently and whose life experiences are more varied and more representative of the communities that the company serves.
In this report, the IBE looks at the experience of gender on boards, one dimension of diversity that has been the focus of a sustained, multi-faceted push for some time. It examines what has been achieved so far and some of the lessons learned as the focus shifts rapidly to address other dimensions of diversity.
Companies that approach these dimensions sequentially, focused on targets and with a compliance mindset, will not achieve the sustainable business benefits from diversity around their boardroom table and will be under increasing pressure from investors.
This report offers a series of recommendations as to how a board can embrace cognitive and experiential diversity and unlock the sustainable business benefits from a making systemic rather than cognitive changes.