Contributed by Morice Mendoza, Editor, www.Women-omics.com

Imagine a board discussion at a large multinational company. One of the directors, a smart forward-thinker, makes a presentation in which he says that the company could achieve a 112% higher return on invested capital if it made one transformational change to its organisational structure and culture. The board would jump at the chance to make such a difference to its performance, ensuring the change programme is a number one priority.

Now, put this discussion against the context of the current economic climate in which the smartest brains in the financial world have managed to shed billions of dollars worth of corporate value because of their over-extended risk-taking behaviour. Also, set this against the context of several decades of management thinking, which has put shareholder value above everything else, even if it meant getting rid of 100,000s of employees or damaging local communities.

This board, however, has realised it can make a massive difference to its performance by making one change. It won’t be easy but the result will be revolutionary and it can be done in a sustainable way.

The change is, of course, ensuring that the company raises women to the top levels of the organisation and the 112% higher return in invested capital comes from Catalyst, the US-based research organisation, in 2007 based on its study of the Fortune 500 Companies, in which companies with three or more women directors on their boards were found to have out-performed companies with lower female representation at the top.

The change will result in a balance of women and men at the senior levels of the organisation, which studies from Catalyst, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and others have shown will lead to higher corporate performance. It will enable the company to attract more women, the majority of graduates, and make it more likely the company will retain and develop them to the best of their abilities. It will add greater marketing power to the company, making it better placed to understand the woman consumer, who dominates in world markets.

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