- There is a simple way to improve business performance significantly that requires neither a government bailout nor vast corporate investment. Appoint more women to company boards and top management teams, write Shifra Bronznick and Marie Wilson in The Huffington Post.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
"News of the establishment of The Women's Leadership Fund, created by Switzerland's Naissance Capital, Ltd made the financial world prick up their ears. Naissance has committed that the fund will only invest in companies with women in management and on their boards. The Fund will also take an "activist stance" against companies that have not yet committed to women in leadership positions," write Shifra Bronznick and Marie Wilson in The Huffington Post, published in nthe USA.
Shifra Bronznick is a leadership strategist and the co-author of Leveling the Playing Field. Marie Wilson is the President and Founder of The White House Project.
"The creation of The Women's Fund echoes recent findings by several respected research groups here in the U.S.: there is a simple way to improve business performance significantly that requires neither a government bailout nor vast corporate investment. Appoint more women to company boards and top management teams."
The writers state: "For both reasons of justice and economics, making women's leadership in corporate America a priority is a step long overdue. 66 of our top Fortune 500 companies have no women on their boards and only 3% have women CEOs."
Positive impact
The positive impact of women on the bottom line is confirmed in a 2009 study, "Women in Fund Management" from the National Council for Research on Women.
"Given the consistency of the research findings, logic would seem to dictate that CEOs would jump on this method of improving financial performance by adding women to top leadership posts. Yet, as we have learned from watching corporations blind themselves to the consequences of their actions -- from the subprime mortgage crisis to the collapse of the auto industry -we cannot rely on those who created the problem to see it and solve it," the writers say.
Timing is good, Shifra Bronznick and Marie Wilson conclude: "The US government is intervening in business right now, because the well-being of the nation is at stake. Now may be the time to replace good intentions about diversifying leadership with government action. We should consider the full range of options from legislation mandating a reasonable representation of women on corporate boards to attractive financial incentives such as tax credits and other deductions."
Why Norway is doing fine
The writers turn to Norway: "Take Norway for example, which is just about the only western nation thriving amidst the current economic crisis. Not only did this country enjoy 3% economic growth in the last year, but it actually has an 11% budget surplus. As of 2008, Norway has a large number of women on its corporate boards, a stark contrast with the paltry 15% representation of women on the United State's Fortune 500 corporate boards."
Shifra Bronznick and Marie Wilson tell how Norway institutionalized this priority:
In 2002, Ansgar Gabrielsen, Norwegian Trade and Industry Minister, saw that the percentage of female representation on corporate boards had stalled at 6%. He knew that very often male board members were drawn from a small social circle, of men who went "hunting and fishing together." He led the effort to bring women onto Norway's boards, because he believed that diversity creates wealth.
By 2003, Norway passed a law requiring all companies to fill 40% of board seats with women by 2008. The result: As of the 2008 deadline, all 500 companies on the Oslo stock exchange now have 40% women on their boards.
"Diversity does not just improve financial results. It also enhances the quality of a group's capacity to think about complex issues. Researchers from the University of Michigan and Loyola University Chicago proved that random groups of intelligent problem solvers outperformed carefully selected group of people considered to be the "best," when asked to solve complex problems," explain Shifra Bronznick and Marie Wilson.
Read more: www.huffingtonpost.com
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