Poll: Do you think companies benefit from more diversity at the top?
It has been argued that a mix of backgrounds and genders helps boost innovation.
A COLUMNIST ON Fora recently argued that a lack of women in top positions can hurt a company’s financial performance.
Caroline Baldwin of recruitment service Accreate Executive Search wrote on this website that greater diversity at the top of a firm leads to increased innovation.
Citing data by the Scientific American, she said that people with different backgrounds bring with them new information and perspectives that are helpful to a company.
Yet recent research by Accreate showed that almost two in every five ISEQ-listed companies have no women at all on their boards.
She suggested that in order to plug the gap, board members should be appointed based on the skills they don’t have and gaps in diversity of background.
While Baldwin makes a strong case, some might argue that a lack of diversity hasn’t stood in the way of some of Ireland’s top firms.
Two giants mentioned in her column – Ryanair and Kerry Group – have exclusively male senior executive teams but are some of the most successful companies to ever emerge from these shores.
With that in mind, we’re asking Fora readers this week: Do you think companies benefit from more diversity at the top?
