Sharing the responsibility of advancing Latinx talent
A conversation with Gustavo Alba, managing partner of the Technology & Services Practice, Heidrick & Struggles
By: Johanna Hoyos
Diversity and inclusion are becoming integral to an organization’s culture; organizations must be competitive in today’s marketplace. Companies like Heidrick & Struggles are working hard to diversify talent genuinely. They pride themselves on being their clients’ most trusted advisor, offering an integrated suite of services to help manage these challenges and their leadership assets. Their offering ranges from placing talent through executive search to providing counsel in areas that include succession planning, executive and board assessment, and board effectiveness reviews.
Gustavo Alba is the managing partner of the Technology & Services Practice. Gustavo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. At age 10, he and his family moved to the United States, mainly between New York and Florida. Being of Hispanic descent, Alba understands the importance of representation deeply.
Recently, Alba accepted a global leadership role in the firm and along with other firm leaders, he is excited to continue partnering with clients to think about what more can be done to elevate Hispanic communities in corporate and board positions to ensure adequate representation. “If you look at the Board Monitor U.S. 2022, a report by Heidrick & Struggles¹, you will find fortune 500 company board appointments, as well as new director roles and women as directors, are rising because of the DE&I movement.”
Alba expects to see boards adding more people with technology and HR expertise and continuing to build the wide range of commercial knowledge they started in 2020.
When clients search for board members, they are looking for individuals with capacities and skills in strategy, globalization, environmental, social, and governance (ESG), sustainability, and cybersecurity. They are also looking at the percentage of representation in terms of DE&I,
The goal of Heidrick & Struggles is to:
1. Spotlighting Hispanics and Latinos while calling out the problem of underrepresentation. Best-in-class directors are taking a more holistic approach to diversity, expanding Hispanic and Latinx networks and improving their outreach to potential directors from those backgrounds.
2. Finding solutions to questions such as: What can be done about the underrepresentation of Hispanic communities? Increasingly companies see the link between their company’s business strategy and DE&I strategy are changing and recognize the importance of enhancing the board’s thinking about their own role in DE&I efforts.
“I have hopes for the flywheel effect resulting in better representation of the Hispanic and Latino/a community, by the pull effect into the C-suite level. We must start moving the dial,” Alba emphasizes. The benefits of having more diversity with board members and C-suite roles allow for a stronger connection with the customer/consumer diversity. “I mean linking the market strategy with the board representation to differentiate yourself and to connect better to the customer base.”
However, not all the work depends on the environment. There is a shared responsibility with those who wish to advance in the corporate world. Gustavo advises executive Latinos who want to join a corporate board to network with the ecosystem of current and former board members, have them as mentors, and get introductions to boards. “Become an expert in strategy, globalization, ESG, or cybersecurity. There are many options like writing whitepapers and attending and presenting at conferences. Put a stamp as one of the leading experts in one of those topics.”
Another way of getting connected is to be part of associations committed to paying it forward and advancing the mission of increasing the number of U.S. Latinos on corporate boards.
Gustavo believes the corporate search and executive search firms and corporate boards will be seeing ‘fresh thinking’ with first-time board members in the coming years. They will be the new wave to build a broader remit, defining the skills needed and the value-added - breaking the mentality of having a CEO or CFO on the board. “It’s only going to get better with the first-time board members,” says Alba.
Heidrick & Struggles sees the trend toward diversity continuing and expanding. As this progress continues, it is crucial that boards not trade off one form of diversity for another.
¹ https://www.heidrick.com/en/insights/boards-governance/board-monitor-us-2022
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Photo credit: Courtesy of Heidrick & Struggles
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Editor’s pick:
Increasingly companies see the link between their company’s business strategy and DE&I strategy are changing and recognize the importance of enhancing the board’s thinking about their own role in DE&I efforts.