How to make board diversity work for HK

Juliet Bourke suggests four ways companies in Hong Kong can put in practice the stock exchange's smart, ambitious call for board diversity

Impressive - that's the first word that springs to mind when reading the Hong Kong stock exchange's consultation paper on board diversity. Then comes "thoughtful" and "smart". Why? The topic of board diversity is not new, and indeed one could say that the HKEx proposal is a little overdue. But it appears to have adopted a more patient approach: watching, analysing and then cherry-picking - and this will reap much bigger rewards for Chinese businesses.

Far from playing follow the leader, which would have meant introducing gender quotas as Norway did in 2005, or even "measurable [gender] objectives" as introduced by Australia in 2010, with only a passing reference to diversity of skills, HKEx has firmly focused on "diversity of perspectives". This focus represents the most advanced thinking about the value of diversity, particularly for boards which provide the crucible of strategic thinking and need to avoid the bias of groupthink.

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