IWD: Celebrating Diversity

International Women's Day is not just about the empowerment of women, but more fundamentally, about diversity. Embracing #diversity not only in gender, but also culture, backgrounds, perspectives and skills is not only a way of life but adds value to business and society. As we celebrate diversity for #IWD2023, we shine a spotlight on related work by female 欧洲工商管理学院 (INSEAD) faculty members and alumni.

In the realm of #innovation, diversity is clearly a necessary ingredient. Ella Miron-Spektor , Moran Lazar and Jennifer Mueller found that?the way people view themselves shapes their bonds with different types of ideas. To spark innovation, managers should create an environment where people feel appreciated for their unique values and differences. When they are more likely to define themselves more individually (as opposed to collectively), they tend to feel more attached to novel ideas that affirm their independent thinking and divergence.

A diversity of skills is equally important, in view of the effects of soft skills on productivity, according to Maria Guadalupe and Bryan Ng. They found evidence suggesting that industries that employ more workers with high social and high maths/analytical skills exhibit higher #productivity over time. Investment in soft skills will have positive impact and will ultimately pay for itself.

Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds make better leaders simply because they value interdependence and community over independence and self-sufficiency. That's according to a study by Winnie Jiang and Amy Zhao-Ding on underprivileged female Chinese founders. The #leadership styles of such individuals encompass being people-oriented and a keen interest in empowering their employees. As such, it pays for businesses to do more to level the playing field for socioeconomically disadvantaged workers.

Also on leadership, Rose Xiaowei Luo , Yidi Guo and Danyang Li found that a family enterprise can become more resilient when the son, daughter or wife takes the helm. In a typical #familybusiness hierarchy, where subordinates are expected to fully comply with and respect authority, there tends to be a lack of diversity in perspectives and opinions. But when hierarchical inconsistency exists, subordinates are more likely to offer different views and raise objections, which can prevent groupthink and even fraud.

Beyond organisational borders, companies need to improve #communication with key actors to foster trust, enhance cooperation and mitigate potential risks and conflicts. Lite J. Nartey, PhD , together with Witold Henisz and Sinziana Dorobantu , explored the diverse needs of a company’s stakeholders and how best to communicate with them. They propose four factors that matter when dealing with stakeholders: timeliness, valence, richness and topicality.

In the start-up landscape, a diversity of corporate venture capital (CVC) is giving the #startup ecosystem a much-needed boost amid the challenging investment climate. According to a study by Claudia Zeisberger , ?????? Nicolas Sauvage and Monisha Varadan , entrepreneurs need to decide if corporate funding is a good fit for their startup based on whether the core objective of the CVC aligns with the start-up’s needs.

We cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. INSEAD alumna Elisa Dierickx is pushing for more diverse metrics of success, given the urgent need to protect our #biodiversity. We need financial and economic system reform, including the adoption of metrics beyond GDP. The good news: Transitioning to a #naturepositive economy could generate up to US$10.1 trillion in annual business value and create 395 million jobs by 2030.??