Diversity on the move

Denise Morrison, the CEO of the Campbell Soup Company stated, "The path to diversity begins with supporting, mentoring, and sponsoring diverse women and men to become leaders and entrepreneurs." She explained that if she had a magic wand, one of the first things she would fix would be increasing diversity in the C-suite.

Well, if you are in agreement with Denise, then you will appreciate the recent findings of this research by McKinsey & Company: Delivering through diversity.

This research expounds upon the link between diversity and a company's financial performance. The article explains how more companies are leveraging diversity (gender and race) across geographies to reap amazing business results. The details provided explain how a greater proportion of women and a more mixed ethnic and cultural composition in the leadership of companies is resulting in companies that outperform their competitors.

A couple of questions that arise:

1.) If gender and ethnic diversity are clearly correlated with profitability, why are women and minorities still underrepresented?

2.) Why are companies located in some countries further along than others?

The research supports earlier findings that more diverse companies are better able to attract top talent, to improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction and decision making, and to secure their license to operate. This new research declares the diversity will support growth, expand innovation, improve customer service and improve financial performance!