In search of a balanced board - the case for diversity

Many female readers will no doubt have had the experience of being the only woman present at board meetings. How would they pitch to their male colleagues the need for better board diversity? CSj outlines a fictional company secretary's defence of diversity.

The board chairman called the regular meeting of the board of directors of Roosters Ltd to order at 11:00am. The meeting agenda was swiftly dispatched in the usual manner, but just as the directors were ready to break for their traditional post-meeting lunch, the company secretary, the only woman present, asks whether the board should consider the issue of board diversity. There follows a stunned silence. Not only has this question never been asked before, but the assembled directors have clearly never even heard of this new-fangled concept ... READ MORE

This article first appeared in the May 2012 edition of CSJ, the journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Chartered Secretaries. Republished with permission of the original publisher.