Posted on 4/7/2009

On March 11th 2009, the Times of London Online published an article by Carol Lewis entitled Why Are Women Not Making An Impression At Boardroom Level?. A link to the article can be found below:

Why Are Women Not Making An Impression At Boardroom Level?

Bridge Partners LLC composed a response to the article, which can also be found below:

The most innovative ideas and the most creative solutions to problems are often borne from an environment that brings together individuals with a wide knowledge-base and range of experiences. It would seem logical then, to assume that bringing together teams of diverse directors (in terms of gender, international work and cultural experience, function, etc.) would benefit any forward-thinking organization.

However, simply increasing the number of women on boards or in executive suites will not bring about the type of change needed to compete in an increasingly global economy – these women also need to be impactful. As noted in the article, "Women are on about half the nomination committees but tend to be additional members rather than taking the place of men.” The impression given is that these women committee-members serve as an after-thought. It may not be the intention, and the women would likely be horrified by such a comment..but it may well be true.

Based on the study mentioned in this article and similar ones conducted in the US, many companies continue to view diversity initiatives at senior management and board level as a "nice thing to do" rather than an economic imperative. In order for diversity initiatives to succeed in the boardroom and throughout an organization, they must be viewed not merely as a theoretical management best-practice but as an economic imperative—one which benefits from a proactive, action-oriented approach.

For example, encouraging the nominating committee to work with an executive search firm that specializes in the recruitment of high-caliber, diverse candidates; ensuring that nominating committees are diverse and are mandated to perform as search outside their own personal networks or "comfort zones"; and establishing formal mentoring programs to help incoming senior executives get fast-acclimated to the corporate culture in order to maximize impact - are all very effective ways of increasing and retaining diverse employees. They also each signal to current and future employees a true commitment to becoming a progressive, forward-thinking employer of choice - which will go a long way towards attracting and retaining top talent.