Women Leaders are not Unicorns

Dear Corporate Board Search Committees:

Women leaders are not unicorns. Especially women highly-qualified for corporate board oversight. You will find them – if you change up the conventional search process.

A new law makes California the first state to require corporate boards of directors to include women. That means nearly 100 companies will have to add a woman to their boards—some, more than one.

The very idea of a law requiring women on boards is a call to action about why there are so few women. In my work with many organizations, I know search committees want to be inclusive. They recognize the value of inclusion and diversity. Yet the urgent question of search committees is this: Where to find these women?

Most search committees will scramble to pursue and attract appropriate candidates. And true, much can be done to widen the net. Yet, even if you bring women into your pool, you may find the problem isn’t the breadth of your net. Even more problematic, is that smaller and newer companies, who should be more forward-thinking and nimble, actually trail their larger counterparts in having women leaders on their boards. But there are powerful – and even practical – ways to curb this trend.

As a first step, you must first understand the barriers that have prevented well-qualified women from being selected from board searches. Search committees must recognize the hidden frameworks they use to choose candidates, and that these habits are flawed. These implicit “templates of success” are problematic because they tend to favor one group over others, even if members of each group have an equal chance at succeeding. For example, the fall-back standard to fill a board seat is to find a sitting or past CEO. However, there is no without evidence that only a CEO can effectively provide governance and advice. Further, this criterion has been waived for men, but rarely for women or other underrepresented groups. Even if the standard is used fairly for all applicants, it can result in a hidden preference for selecting white men. Just 23 women lead Fortune 500 companies, and only three Black men. Instead of providing a template for success, these tools work primarily as tools of replication. They fail to capture innovation, breadth or “additive contribution.”

To find the new member who can contribute the most to the board, I would challenge search committees to take the time to imagine what a true portfolio of talent on your board could provide. Don’t find someone who can simply fill a role. Aim to build an intersectional, diverse group. Instead of thinking solely about CEOs, consider expertise in new markets, alternative fields, emerging trends, small businesses or global consumers.  

In other words, consider what someone with a different template of experience can add. Board searches need to prioritize this additive contribution. Look to the ways diversity of approaches can strengthen team decision-making and learn how to identify and value people who bring difference, not sameness, to the board. It is a powerful way to work against a template of bias.                                                             

Despite concerns that the California law is bad for business, that is not the intent – nor do I think it will be the outcome. Research confirms that diverse groups perform better. They make better decisions. They provide better oversight. Indeed, anyone tasked with fiduciary responsibility for an organization should want this shift to happen as soon as possible. Not to comply with a quota, but to meet the expectations of their shareholders. 

California’s Governor has taken this moment for legislative action. But investors like CalSTERS, CalPERS , and State Street Global Advisors have known the value of women on boards for a long time. Now is the time to put these and other successful research-based strategies into practice on a larger scale. If we value economic growth and better business outcomes, we need to re-engineer the way we recruit and support women board leaders.

If this legislation can bring vastly improved search process to organizations, the results will not only be counted in the improved of talented women on boards but also through the new ways we define success in corporate leadership. The California law is an invitation to search better and to identify and harness the power of all available expert leadership.