We already know that diverse companies outperform less diverse companies. We also know that companies with higher representation of women among board directors perform significantly higher financially. So how does this translate to leading a country? Harvard Business Review put in the work to find out.
Already realizing that gender discrimination and racial biases can restrict economic growth, researchers there studied 188 U.N.-recognized countries and their leaders to find out whether economic outcomes change depending on the gender of the leader and the country's racial diversity. (They, of course, controlled for many factors like education, infrastructure development, and more). The verdict? Overall, fast-growing economies were more prominent when females led the country, especially more diverse countries. So essentially, not only companies, but entire countries can benefit from more diversity. Clearly it’s time to embrace diversity and promote women in the workplace—it might just benefit the economy!
