Feature – Diversity


There have been movements to push the diversity debate for- ward. Initiatives like the Hampton-Alexander Review wants at least a third of FTSE350 directors to be female, while the Parker Review targets at least one ethnic director on each FTSE board. “That has come under pressure,” Kelshiker said. “Across FTSE250 companies, 59% did not meet that target.”


Diversity by numbers But McMahon offers a word of warning on this issue. “When it comes to data, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” she said. Rina Goldenberg Lynch, founder and chief executive of inclu- sion-focused consultancy Voice at the Table, has a similar view. “Looking at diversity in numbers is not helpful. We should look at the business culture first.” She added that antipathy is why it is difficult to change the way we do things, especially at board level. “So, the first barrier is making that change within and identifying your own obstacles to it and working on those day in, day out. The changes we have seen so far cannot be discounted. It is a long journey.” Kelshiker used the event to explore an interpretation of diversity. “Diversity is all about cognitive diversity: experiences, views, perspectives, identity and having that diverse thought as a conversation within the boardroom,” he said. “Group think can be an issue with boardroom decision making and having diversity in the room makes for a far richer conversation, far better governance and risk management.” Goldenberg Lynch noted the validity of the point. “On a board, diversity may not be great, but there is still a lot of diversity


there. For me it is about tapping into the diversity of each of the individuals who are already there,” she said. But Goldenberg Lynch also noted again how boardrooms can find it difficult to change, even if they pretend that they are. “There is a desire at a senior level to create diversity. It can look different, but it has to feel the way it has done before and that is where the problem lies,” she said.


Those who came before


Beyond the boardroom there is a need for senior role models, McMahon said. “I spent eight years on a trading floor with no role models, never worked directly with another female trader and there was no woman senior to me,” she added. “What is important to me now is the young people in my team have that experience. I want them to look up and see role mod- els, see themselves represented and feel included and so they can believe they can progress to the highest level within our organisation. Achieving that is a measure of success.” The issue of what type of diversity representation exists throughout an organisation is vital, Price said. “You could have an organisation that has great representation at board level, but when you go lower you may find all the women are in the back office or not in decision-making roles,” she added. “So, without getting under the bonnet and looking at diversity throughout the whole organisation you could make unintentionally bad decisions.” Adding another take on diversity, McMahon added: “We hear and talk about gender and race, but not much about disability,” she said. “Until the position arose of me employing someone who was visually impaired, I had never thought about accessi- bility myself.”


A picture of success There is no


destination to this journey. It is all about progress.


Rina Goldenberg Lynch, Voice at the Table


When or how will we know if success has been achieved on the diversity front?


“There is no destination to this journey,” Goldenberg Lynch said. “It is all about progress. The journey is about becoming more and more aware of situations and trying to improve,” Goldenberg Lynch said, with Kelshiker adding: “It is about hav- ing not just a diverse workplace but an inclusive one.” For Price, success will come when “numbers speak volumes”. She believes it will come when the industry works in harmony and when more asset owners are embedding diversity into their practices and managers provide greater disclosure. Shekaran concluded that it was important to understand the gravity of the challenge. “We are trying to undo centuries of inequality. “I don’t know what the ultimate utopia is because it is so far from the real world now, but we don’t have to get to that point to have serious inclusion.”


Issue 109 | December-January 2022 | portfolio institutional | 45


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