Talentsage, Monday 13 June 2022
Having personally engaged one-to-one with more than 25 FTSE directors – of the 75 interviewed for this study – I am struck by just how many of them are committed to diversity, trying to do the ‘right thing’ but struggling to deliver it. Those who dismiss directors as being unsympathetic or unaware of the need to become more diverse have probably not spoken to very many of them. The ask of boards to increase demographic diversity against the backdrop of small numbers that do not turn over very often, along with the need to have diverse skillsets, is a complex and challenging one. Understanding more about how, not whether to diversify boards, is the main purpose of this research.
Being commissioned to do this research under the auspices of the FRC created an incredible opportunity for access to boards to understand not just how they look, but also how they function. The Leadership Institute at London Business School treated this opportunity accordingly, with the rigour and care of our best scholarly research.