Good morning,
Companies say that they’re prioritizing board diversity, but changes have been slow to manifest.
Just 30% of Fortune 500 board seats are held by women, and 45% by people of color, according to Deloitte’s latest Missing Pieces report. When it comes to women of color, however, that number drops to just 8%, with many once-promising board diversity trends moving in the wrong direction.
Roosevelt Giles, a board member at Just Capital, and chairman of Stakeholder Impact Foundation, which offers free training programs for future board and C-suite leaders, advises aspiring directors, with a special emphasis on women and people of color. He says that board candidates are typically told to “network, network, network,” put together a one-page résumé, engage with a search firm, and then sit back and wait for an email. But for candidates from marginalized backgrounds, who continue to face barriers in the corporate world, he believes it’s essential they proactively shape the way their abilities are viewed and take an extra step to stand out among the stacks of résumés boards receive.
As soon as a board applicant is told that a company wants to meet them for an interview, he says, the candidate ought to begin working on a detailed “board document” to be delivered to the company several days before the interview date.
Speaking at the Fortune Impact Initiative 2023 conference in Atlanta last week, Giles explained that this document should speak to the applicant’s views on three topics about the target company: The value the corporation brings to the world, the organization’s culture, and the risks it’s facing. “When I receive this document outlining how you view us from a value perspective, how you view us from a sustainability perspective, now you get my attention,” Giles said. “Because I can go directly to this and see where you fit.”
Another benefit of submitting such a board document? “You’ll own the interview,” Giles told Fortune in a subsequent conversation. “They’re going to be asking you questions about your report.”
The research that candidates put into creating the board document also sends a secondary message—they know how to dig into complicated issues that board members are expected to understand, says Giles. That includes cyber risk, inflation, ESG responsibilities, and talent management. Gone are the days of “compliance governance,” Giles told the audience, in which boards were mostly preoccupied with accounting rules. While financial oversight is still necessary, today’s boards need to practice “stakeholder governance,” which means they are balancing the needs of not only investors and regulators, but also employees, suppliers, and the community. “Board members are expected to do research, because you have all of these issues come in before you hit the board [meeting],” Giles said.
For applicants from underrepresented groups, Giles also recommends emphasizing more than just one dimension of their work history. Think about the way people explain their educational background, listing their college major and minor. In the same way, he said, if they’ve been a CMO or a CHRO for several years, that’s a “major.” “But what is your ‘minor’?” he asked. For example, has the candidate always made technology, DEI, or sustainability a part of their work? If so, they can make that crystal clear so that boards can see the breadth of their skills and interests.
By the way, none of this advice is meant to shift the burden of diversifying boards to individuals. The onus is still on companies to give all candidates fair consideration as they refresh or expand their boards, says Giles.
He also predicts that going this extra mile will soon be necessary for all board-ready executives looking to land their first director’s seat, whether they’re part of a majority culture or not. The risk facing companies is so significant, he says, that the old boys club model of recruitment “is slowly phasing out.”
Lila MacLellan
lila.maclellan@fortune.com
@lilamaclellan
