Diversity Discoveries

DI VERS I TY DI SCOVER I ES SECOND QUARTER 202 2

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— Gender Diversity and the Role of the ABB Executive Search Team

Over the past decade, an increasing number of companies have realized howmuch a di- verse leadership team represents a true source of competitive advantage and suc- cess for their organizations. McKinsey & Company research shows that companies with ethnically and gender di- verse leadership are 33%more likely to out- perform on profitability and 21%more likely to have above-average profitability with gender diverse leadership teams. BCG and the Technical University of Munich found a direct correlation between innovation, diversity in leadership teams and profit- ability of new product releases. They discov- ered that four types of diversity — industry background, country of origin, career path, and gender — positively correlate with innovation. McKinsey, ‘Delivering Through Diversity’ 2018.

Not only financial performance and innova- tion, but also the richness of diversity in the long-term is vital if companies are to achieve success in the business world of the future. Though given this reality, few major multinationals have imple- mented focused global recruiting strate- gies encompassing proactive gender di- verse executive candidate sourcing. However, this must change if companies expect to recruit competitively in the global battle for top diverse talent. To effectively mitigate challenges for recruiting diverse leaders, organizations must define and establish a recruiting roadmap that is forward thinking and proactive in nature in order to be successful in attracting the top female executive talent needed to compete and win in today and tomorrow’s business environment.

by Gary Earle and Domenico Zuccarello