EMOTIONAL, PERSONAL AND POLITICAL

The recent heated discussions over quota reignited by EU Commission Internal Market & Services Member Barnier reveal the true nature of Diversity: It is an emotional, personal and political issue in any sense of the words. Forget about the former choice of ‘social’ or ‘economic’ approaches. We are (finally) down to the pure power play and mediocre media manoeuvres. For the past few years, researchers and practitioners have seen waves of focused to comprehensive programmes, and a constantly developing discussion involving arguments, data and a few dogmatic positions. The current reality shows a different yet questionable quality. A number of high profile people are involved (by the Media) in a public discussion creating a strongly personalised exchange of views and opinions. Inevitably, this also leads to unfortunate and even unprofessional phrases by some of the world’s most global managers, such as Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann’s hope “that the boardroom will sometime become more colourful and prettier”. In an already emotionally charged environment, this statement on women has led to strong and sometimes inappropriate public reactions, wiping off all efforts international CEOs have given to Diversity for more than ten years, which have led to measurable progress. But this progress does not seem to be enough for those who aim at equal shares, aka fixed quota. Not only is this attitude unfair and discouraging for those who have made efforts, it is also inappropriate regarding the very different situations in various industries or countries. Today’s discourse is also fuelled by a number of myths which have managed to change opinion simply through repetition: 1_ Past programmes have failed 2_ Quota quickly achieves a critical mass. Data does not prove either of the two with the exception of the Norwegian supervisory boards, which are a true exception in the corporate world as members are elected or appointed on a regular basis. Upper Management is a different story as it involves a step-by-step career development process. Regardless of where the quota discussion leads us, I hope it won’t destroy the support for Gender and wider Diversity we have won all together over so many years. And I hope it will help us understand the enormous influence of each individual’s personal experience, attitudes, values and preferences on the way he or she drives Diversity. In working with leaders and experts, I have always emphasised the emotional nature of Diversity. From now on, let’s be more upfront about this: it will make our jobs a bit more challenging, but a lot more authentic at the same time.