Diversity Driving Better Board Conversations
Interview with Joe Griesedieck - Vice Chairman, Korn Ferry
1. Explain your current position within Korn Ferry.
JG: Today, I am the Vice-Chairman of Korn Ferry and responsible for developing and overseeing the firm’s Board Advisory Practice. I joined Korn Ferry in 2004. I have been in the executive search profession for over 40 years.
2. What part of your job focuses on searching for Latinos for Corporate positions?
JG: As with all board openings and longer-term director succession planning, we seek a diverse slate of candidates for every role, including Latino and Latina executives. To ensure that every candidate brings relevant experience to a board, we look for the appropriate industry and functional expertise among all candidates, including the foregoing community of business executives.
3. How many of your clients explicitly ask for Latino candidates?
JG: In most cases, boards are not specific regarding the ethnic diversity component they seek - be it Latino, African American, or Asia-Pacific Americans. However, suppose there is a company where it is evident that Latino candidates would best represent communities that the company serves (geographic, demographic, or otherwise). In that case, we will make specific recommendations of Latino candidates whom we believe would add strategic value to the board. In a more general sense, we are also aware that Latinos represent a significant and growing part of the U.S. population (20%). However, they are under-represented on boards, including by comparison to other ethnic communities and gender groups.
4. From your perspective, what is the current corporate environment – what are companies looking for?
JG: Boards today are looking at their composition in a much more strategic way. Due to increased pressure from investor and shareholder interest groups, boards are deliberately adding members who fill gaps in their strategic makeup or add new skills and insights to changing strategies or company transformations. Investors want boards with the knowledge and skills that align with the company’s strategy.
5. How are DEI initiatives influencing the search for positions?
JG: DEI initiatives encompass corporate hiring, development, and promotion, as well as board appointment initiatives. In the case of boards, the value should still be in the experience, qualifications, and strategic relevance that a potential director brings and should not be driven by diversity alone.
6. How are companies benefited from a diverse Board?
JG: The value of a diverse board reflects in how the board can hear different points of view and opinions. Having one person of gender or ethnic diversity on the board does not make it a diverse board. However, the conversation changes when at least one-third of the board or more is comprised of diverse directors. Diverse board members bring different perspectives, experiences, and in some cases thinking styles that enrich the quality of board discussions and debates. There is empirical evidence that companies with this diversity level on their boards outperform their peers.
7. What challenges are you facing within your current role?
JG: There are several challenges in my current role. First, with the demand for diverse director candidates, finding those individuals with the time and interest to serve. In some cases, these are executives who have not previously served on a public or private company board. So, it is crucial to ensure that they bring the relevant skills, experience, knowledge, and judgment to perform in a value-added way as a board member.
Second, given the dominance of female and African American executives who have been brought onto boards in recent years, it has been challenging to get boards to recognize that there is an equally qualified and available community of experienced executives in the lesser represented Latino and Asian-American business population.
8. What advice would you give Latinos wanting to join as Board Directors?
JG: There has never been a better time for Latinos who are interested in and qualified to serve as board directors to utilize and extend their networks to let people know that they have this interest. In addition to the executive search firms, the growing Latino professional networks and publications (Latino Leaders, LCDA, Latina Style, Nueva and others) have been proactive in bringing Latino executives to the attention of boards.
For me, bringing more Latinos onto boards is not so much about increasing the diversity of the board as it is about adding cultural, social, and business perspectives that will enhance the quality of board discussions and help the company leadership confirm a long-term strategy and business transformation.
To me, a truly diverse board is one that has relevant but multiple experiences, skills, and knowledge, represents various stakeholders (customers, employees, and suppliers), and brings diverse perspectives to board discussions based on all of these.
The Korn Ferry board, an NYSE-listed company, is a good example. The board has 10 independent members, including a former Latino CEO, an African American former CEO, four females, and a soon-to-be-added Asian-American former F500 CEO. The nature of our business is around leadership and talent development on a global basis, so it is a very appropriate mix of experiences, views, interests, and opinions.
I am hopeful that we will see (and we will undoubtedly promote) a greater interest from boards in candidates who come from the Latino community. It is a rich source of talent for company boards.
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