Diversity in the retail boardroom - does Quality of Mind matter?

In recent news, The Independent reports that N Brown’s Chief executive Angela Spindler has warned that fewer women may end up in top retail jobs if the industry falls victim to a post-Brexit downturn.

Spindler has told the Press Association that retailers are likely to lean on seasoned executives who have experience guiding companies through recessions – and that most of these are men. It is claimed that this will give rising female retailers fewer chances to enter the boardroom.

Spindler is quoted as saying:

“Contemporary successful businesses recognise the value of diversity... but it gets stalled when times are tough,”

“When times are tough and there’s economic uncertainty, then businesses become less open to taking risks. And I guess because there are fewer experienced females around, just by nature of how retail has been populated to this point, then that sort of slows things down a bit.”

She added: “As you know, people tend to go back to looking for people who have done it before, or have been through different phases of recession or economic downturn. So it’s something that we should be alive to and manage rather than let happen.”

The Independent further reports that others such as Jamie Broderick, chief executive for UBS Wealth Management UK, believe there is a strong business case to push diversity forward, particularly when times get tough and that boardroom diversity can result in “innovative solutions”.

He is reported to have said:

“When you have change in the business, when you have stress in a business, those are exactly the times when you need creative, diverse debate around what’s next, because diversity works best in an environment where you’re struggling with problems, and trying to create innovative solutions around change”.

I couldn’t agree more, and I would add to this by saying that what actually drives creative, diverse debate in the boardroom is diversity in thinking not just diverse people.

What is it that determines diversity in thinking?

Well, to put it simply, diversity of thought comes down to Quality of mind.

Or put to it another way, Quality of Mind determines the quality and diversity of our thinking (and is therefore the precursor to creative, diverse, debate and innovative solutions).

You may be wondering how the two are connected…. you may also be thinking that surely the level of experience in the boardroom trumps diversity of thinking…. I would suggest, not necessarily.

Quality of Mind (QoM) is the key variable that influences the level at which people perform and therefore all other factors that directly and indirectly impact the bottom line, but it is often either ignored or misunderstood. However, when we insightfully understand the principles behind QoM, how it is created and how we can leverage it, we open up to an infinite level of creative, diverse thinking, resilience, ideas and innovation, that transcend personal knowledge and experience.

If you’re curious to find out more about QoM, read here.

In the search for leaders to steer retailers out of any post-Brexit choppy waters, I would agree with Jamie Broderick that “boardroom diversity can result in innovative solutions”. But it's not just having diversity of people or backgrounds that creates innovative solutions, that can help - but unlocking the diversity of the current board room members not only increases the synergy between new and old, but also more powerfully cascades through the organisation. Diversity of thinking should be a cultural norm of an organisation not something distinct or discrete.

However, it is worth remembering that boardroom diversity, i.e. diversity of thought, is not harnessed by policies on who gets a seat at the table, especially if based on the misconceived idea that old hands are necessary to navigate turbulent waters. Instead, by looking in the direction of what creates anyone's levels of creativity, innovation, resilience and clarity (ie. Quality of Mind), and by understanding how this can be leveraged, leaders can learn how to unlock new levels of business and personal potential, regardless of how choppy the waters get.

Now what?

If something in what you have read here has resonated, drop me a line and we can arrange a conversation. 1-1 coaching programmes, open 3 day executive workshops, and in house programmes can all enable people to have shifts in their Quality of Mind understanding.

If you are curious to discover for yourself how simple it can be to enable transformative shifts and to have a higher Quality of Mind in your communication, come on our next open executive retreat April 2017.