02/26/2024

The Case for Board Diversity

As DE&I efforts face increased criticism, board diversity has stalled

This is a tricky time for conversations around board diversity. Organizations generally grasp the importance of broadening the pool of volunteer leaders: It creates space for new ideas, makes organizations more representative of their membership, and helps avoid internal toxicity. But there’s also increasing pushback around board diversity, as part of more vocal complaints around DEI initiatives.

For instance, last week a federal appeals court announced that it would rehear a challenge to a rule by Nasdaq that the companies it lists disclose their boards’ race and gender composition. Edward Blum, president of the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment, one of the organizations taking the challenge to court, told CNBC that the rule “promotes racial discrimination and polarizing personal disclosures."

That’s debatable. But the fact that it’s become part of a debate has shifted the tone around board diversity, and perhaps chilled efforts around it somewhat: A Conference Board survey from late last year found that the percentage of women and racially/ethnically diverse directors has effectively stalled in the past year, mainly due to decreased diversity among new board members. The report notes that the long-term trend-line points to overall increased diversity, but the short-term outlook is concerning.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.