Women on boards: Men share their opinions

action unlike those with which they are familiar, is a creative mystery waiting to be discovered.
The wide ranges of gifts and talents, deposited by the Creator in each human being, when brought together under one roof, without fear and favour, provide the best solutions to contemporary problems.

Yet, humans shy away from this great natural asset, preferring instead to stick to the old and familiar thoughts, actions and company. Through diversity, whether of gender, tribal or ethnicity, communication is sharpened and possibilities become realities. Diversity is one of the primary sources of development waiting to be explored.
Common sense would suggest that broader diversity among employees could lead to more productive companies. Many studies have shown parallels between diversity, both at the board and management levels, and firm performance.

Broad range of skills, experiences, and perspectives to decision making leads to better overall stewardship and oversight of organisations. It could be concluded that hiring women onto boards is important, not as an obligatory act to meet gender or racial quotas, but as good business sense.
Numbers still remain disproportionate. Women account for half the population and yet only 10 percent of board members in Europe’s big firms are female.
2020 Women on Boards: a grassroots campaign to increase the percentage of women who serve on US corporate boards of directors to 20 percent or greater by the year 2020. The International

Finance Corporation intends that by 2015, women should comprise at least 30 percent of IFC-nominee directors.
Further statistics show that while changes are taking place in observing the role and need for gender diversity, there is room for improvement. For example, only 17 percent of persons trained by the Institute of Directors in Zambia during the year 2010 were women. In the USA 70 percent of the 1763 companies rated by GovernanceMetric International (GMI) had at least one woman director, but only 9,7 percent of these companies had at least three women directors in 2011.

In South Africa, 6,4 percent of the directorships of 335 survey companies during the year 2010 were held by women. Canada’s Crown Companies (state owned) in Quebec, are required by quota legislation, to reserve 50 percent of the boards seats for women. China scored the highest percentage, among 31 banks listed in the 2010 Fortune Global 200, with 35,3 percent board positions held by women at its Construction Bank.

While there is a global agreement that more women are now participating in decision making, it is also very clear that males hold most key leadership positions.
According to GovernanceMetrics International, men comprise over 90 percent of all directorships globally.
As a results boardroom compositions are strongly determined by men. Given this fact about male dominance, it is logical that inorder to bring about significant changes in both the numeral and character of gender diversity in boardrooms, men must add their voices to this debate. The aim being to raise consciousness levels on board diversity for both men and women.

Women and men on corporate boards tend to disagree on the importance of diversity, such as the need for quotas, measures of board effectiveness, the reasons why fewer women are represented on boards, and many others. For instance it is reported that one third of women directors globally believe that closed off traditional, “old boys” networks are the primary reason women are not considered for directorships. Men believe there are fewer women currently in executive leadership roles, thereby creating a smaller talent pipeline for entrance into the boardroom.
A recent publication by the Global Corporate Governance Forum, shares male opinions on how women add value to the corporate decision-making process, and how to encourage recruitment of

women to boards through networking, training, and improving transparency of the director nomination.
The following is a dossier of conversations with 15 prominent male business leaders’ chairpersons, CEOs, and directors of listed and unlisted companies across a range of industries and countries. These men included Peter Dey of Canada, Patrick Chihanga of Zambia, Mervyn King in South Africa and Zhang Shude of China, among others. This writer also sought views of a few female business leaders in Zimbabwe, to share their opinions on some of these male conversations.

First on the subject of quotas, almost all males interviewed, were against such a system. Quotas may be necessary during transition as they provide quick solutions. However, they are not sustainable.
Talent pools for female directorship candidates may not be large enough, particularly in societies where women, were started latter on the climb on corporate ladders, due to cultural limitations. The concern is that quota systems in such scenario will degenerate into tokenism and compromises quality.

Women at board and senior executive levels want to ensure that they are selected on the basis of their qualifications and competencies rather than on the basis that their selection helps the company to tick off a box in compliance to quota laws.
Both men and women concur that board diversity is about quality not just quantity. Current board selections are based on social networks and patronage systems, to which it is mostly men who belong. The list of potential candidates is male dominated and women are less active in these existing networks.

Selection committees within boards as well as headhunters are also male dominated, who are set in their selection methods. As a result they ignore a huge talent pool of women that could enhance good corporate governance. Thus the whole system needs a shake up.
In practice, is there evidence that these “old boys networks” or male talent pools are necessarily resulting in best boardroom practices and performances?
Most businesses are cartels. It has been observed that men, usually, come together and start their own businesses, which eventually grow. These men may share similar backgrounds such as, having attended the same schools, raised in the same neighbourhoods or attend the same churches. They appoint themselves to these boards. Inclusion of a women on such boards is a “by the way”, and usually ceremonial.

Patrick Chihanga, a business leader in Zambia says that the only woman who sat with him on the same board is his wife, while he was the board chairman. This is a common feature in family businesses which have become dominant in many economies.
Can women cartels solve this problem?
Swedish Lars Thurnell, an executive vice president and CEO of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, shares that over the years in his experience sitting in boardrooms with women, women now

help other women a lot more than in the past. It used to be that the women who made it to the top got there by acting like men. Some of these early pioneers were not always very interested in promoting other women. But now there are more women at the top who are actively engaged in helping other women succeed.
However, forming boards solely concentrated on women also misses out on the values and benefits of diversity, just as male dominated boards. Again it is not about numbers, but about the quality of boardroom performances. Do boardroom dynamics change when women are on board?

The following are snippets of shared opinions on how dynamics change when women are on boards;

Women provide good balance to boardrooms.

The dynamics change because women are more willing to give the other side a chance than men.

lMen also tend to discuss less heatedly when women are in the boardroom.
lWomen are often more moderate in pursuing their ideas, which is good and bad at the same time. Sometimes you need plenty of energy to push ideas forward, and the “let’s think it over” approach can sometimes preclude necessary strong action.

The simple presence of a lady around the table creates an unwritten obligation for men to behave like gentlemen

The debate gets more courteous.

lWomen directors are both more conservative and more sensitive but less creative and entrepreneurial.

Women are not risk averse but they have more of a long-term and sustainable approach to issues and less short-termism

In general, female directors work harder to prepare for board meetings and they participate effectively in discussions. This may have to do with the fact that they are women but also – and maybe even more so -with the fact that they are in the minority on boards. When you are in the minority you often feel that you have something to prove.

Women are more focused on ethics and conduct and they are less tolerant of corruption and conflicts of interest.

Women are more down to earth and to the point. From my experience, they have little patience with nonsense and are willing to take hard decisions.

Does diversity lead to good corporate governance or corporate governance must lead to diversity?
The success of a corporation depends on its relevance to the diverse markets it serves, and the composition of the board should reflect the microcosms of those markets and ensure good corporate responsibility, continuity, and sustainability. This diversity enables better and more effective debate, discussion, and outcomes. The challenge is that there is insufficient diversity right now, thus the question of whether diversity will lead to better governance is academic. Diversity must be achieved first. Governance guidelines should lead to more diversity, and ultimately more diversity will lead to better functioning, better performing corporations.

Thus the answer is neither one nor the other, because they are interdependent. It’s almost certain that diverse boards are more productive. Even homogeneous boards that might have more capable people have shown less dramatic results than diverse boards have.
It is a certainty that there need for more women on boards. While men should deliberate and consciously think about gender diversity, aspiring female board members should be increasing their capacity.

This could include, joining the Institute of Directors, mentorship associations and relevant networks.
I believe that board members, whether male or female, should bring solutions, gifts and talents to boardrooms. Boardrooms are creative rooms and peace is an important factor for better creativity. Hence the challenge for both men and women is to think globally and act locally to enhance gender diversity on boards.