Firms large and small have endured one of the most turbulent periods in Australia’s economic history. It’s not over yet: businesses will be feeling the effects of the pandemic for many years to come.Credit:Important lessons are emerging from the crisis, one of them about diversity in business leadership.
“Contest in thought, which often comes with more diverse boards, tends to create better management outcomes, so we expect these findings won’t be shocking to most business owners,” he says. Dr Meraiah Foley, deputy director of the women, work and leadership research group at Sydney University business school, says the evidence is increasingly clear that diversity is beneficial to businesses.
Rhonda Brighton-Hall, co-founder of small technology and consultancy company, Mwah.live, says her firm since its inception five years ago has sought to embrace diversity. It has four female and four male directors and seeks to draw staff from a range of cultural backgrounds.Having people with different life experiences enhances the team and promotes innovation, she says. “You lose blind spots if you’re [not] all thinking the same,” Brighton-Hall says.
“There will be a bias that’s always there, no matter how empathetic you think you are, that voice will not be there.”But mixed-gender boards are the exception rather than the rule.
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