Diversity Matters – 2014 McKinsey & Company Report

Highlights

• The analysis found a statistically significant relationship between a more diverse leadership and better financial performance. The companies in the top quartile of gender diversity were 15 percent more likely to have financial returns that were above their national industry median. Companies in the top quartile of racial/ethnic diversity were 30 percent more likely to have financial returns above their national industry median. Companies in the bottom quartile for both gender and ethnicity/race were statistically less likely to achieve above-average financial returns than the average companies in the dataset (that is, they were not just not leading, they were lagging).
• The results varied by country and industry. Companies with 10 percent higher gender and ethnic/racial diversity on management teams and boards in the US, for instance, had EBIT that was 1.1 percent higher; in the UK, companies with the same diversity level had EBIT that was 5.8 percent higher. Moreover, the unequal performance across companies in the same industry and same country implies that diversity is a competitive differentiator that shifts market share towards more diverse companies.
• Variations by country show that the bar for competitive differentiation continues to rise. For example, in the US there continues to be a linear relationship between ethnic/racial diversity and better financial performance. In fact, in the US, ethnic/racial diversity has a stronger impact on financial performance than gender diversity, with earlier pushes to increase women’s representation in the top levels of business having already yielded positive results. By contrast, in the UK, increased gender diversity on the executive team corresponded to the highest performance uplift in the global dataset. From an industry perspective, certain industries perform better on gender diversity and others on ethnic/racial diversity. No industry or company was in the top quartile for both dimensions.
• The relationship between diversity and performance highlighted in the research is a correlation, not a causal link. This is an important distinction, but the findings nonetheless permit reasonable hypotheses on what is driving improved performance by companies with diverse executive teams and boards. It stands to reason—and has been demonstrated in other studies—that more diverse companies are better able to win top talent and improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making, leading to a virtuous cycle of increasing returns.