Quorum Call
This edition of OutNEWS was originally published on March 1st, 2024. Get priority access in your inbox when you subscribe.
In a nod to Oscars season, I’d like to nominate LGBTQ+ board diversity for Best Picture.
Here's why: Out Leadership’s cutting-edge OutQUORUM research shows that LGBTQ+-specific inclusion is too often overlooked in DEI and ESG commitments (Greta and Margot can relate). But businesses, business leaders, and LGBTQ+ people around the world – as well as their allies, families, and friends – deserve to be more than runners-up. The power of LGBTQ+ board diversity to dramatically improve business outcomes and global equality demands it.
And in some exciting ways, we’re meeting that demand. We've seen exponential growth in the number of companies adopting LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity policies since OutQUORUM's founding, with monumental growth in the last year alone. These advances are made possible by Egon Zehnder, the first and still only executive search firm to partner with OutQUORUM, and KPMG, our founding sponsor. We've outlined these successes in the sections below.
Still, while these figures indicate that the tide is turning, they aren’t nearly robust enough to fully realize the benefits that LGBTQ+ board diversity can deliver. Just 0.7% of over 5,400 board seats in the Fortune 500 are occupied by LGBTQ+ directors. And while nearly 80% of ASX 200 companies have adopted gender-inclusive board diversity policies only 3.5% include LGBTQ+ policies. This disparity is true in Europe and Asia as well, with only 8.3% of FTSE 350 companies and 5.3% of Hang Seng companies showing LGBTQ+ inclusive board policies on the books.
We must continue to address these gaps. LGBTQ+ board diversity ensures better representation of a broad range of perspectives and experiences. It promotes a more inclusive environment where decisions are made with a scaled-up understanding of the challenges and opportunities unique to LGBTQ+ business leadership. If, like me, you’re ready to see LGBTQ+ board diversity take center stage, then here’s what you can do right now:
To get involved, just email us. This year, join Out Leadership in working to fully realize the potential of LGBTQ+ board diversity to transform business practices and outcomes for the better and advance equality around the world.
For your consideration,
Todd G. Sears
Founder and CEO
Out Leadership
Here’s what you need to know this week…
#1
OutQUORUM’s pioneering research has been pushing the envelope on LGBTQ+ inclusion at the board level for nine years.
Launched in 2014, OutQUORUM is the first and only global initiative to measure LGBTQ+ inclusion at the board level. Our research allows us to know which companies and exchanges are the most inclusive and where we need to focus our efforts to promote inclusion. By calling attention to the lack of representation on corporate boards, OutQUORUM has driven the adoption of board diversity policies to at a rapid pace. Since Out Leadership began the global conversation on LGBTQ+ board diversity in 2014, the number of companies listed on the Fortune 500 with LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity policies rose fifty-six times. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of companies with LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity policies on the Fortune 500 rose four-fold.
In 2021, our groundbreaking board diversity research study, Visibility Counts, mapped the board diversity policies of the entire Fortune 500 for the first time. In 2022, OutQUORUM published a significant update to the 2021 study that included the entirety of the Nasdaq and the Fortune 500 – 6,670 companies in total. In 2023, OutQUORUM’s research went global, mapping the ASX 200, the Hang Seng Index, and the FTSE 350.
#2
Our Board Diversity Policies help businesses build an LGBTQ+ talent pipeline for corporate boards.
In many cases, LGBTQ+ people are not represented on corporate boards because businesses do not consider sexuality as a metric of diversity. OutQUORUM helps companies generate demand for LGBTQ+ board leaders by changing the definition of board diversity to include differences in sexual orientation and gender identity.
Out Leadership maintains turnkey board diversity policies for companies to adopt at their next board meeting. All board members have to do is add an item to their agenda and vote to adopt our policy. It’s that simple.
In 2015, Out Leadership launched OutQUORUM, premiering a first-of-its-kind LGBTQ+ inclusive Board Diversity Policy for the United States with KPMG. In 2023, we expanded our offerings to include the United Kingdom and Australia, with policies for Hong Kong and Japan coming soon.
Recommended by LinkedIn
#3
OutQUORUM’s talent development initiatives prepare cohorts of LGBTQ+ leaders for board service.
While our research initiative creates demand for LGBTQ+ directors, our companion talent program creates a supply of qualified candidates.
In 2016, OutQUORUM, sponsored by KPMG, launched its Board Fit program, the first program designed to prepare LGBTQ+ candidates to join corporate boards. OutQUORUM maintains the world’s first and largest database of board-ready LGBTQ+ candidates.
All around the world, OutQUORUM Salons and Board Fit workshops prepare countless LGBTQ+ executives to be board-ready.
#4
Our advocacy has promoted direct and material changes to promote diversity.
In 2021, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule, which would require companies listed on the exchange to have or explain why they do not have at least two diverse board members. The rule defines diversity as constituting at least one woman and at least one member of an underrepresented minority group, including the LGBTQ+ community.
Out Leadership’s 2023 OutQUORUM report demonstrated that since its implementation, the Nasdaq Board Diversity rule drove rapid adoption of LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity policies from just 113 companies in 2022 to 1,871 companies in 2023 – equivalent to 50% of the firms on the exchange and constituting a one-year increase of 1,556%.
Out Leadership’s OutQUORUM initiative was instrumental to the creation of the Board Diversity Rule. After working with Out Leadership on the policy, Nasdaq cited Out Leadership research seven times in the Rule’s application for approval to the SEC.
Last week, Out Leadership again continued this advocacy in a letter submitted to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Out Leadership Founder & CEO Todd Sears again urged the Commission to adopt stronger and broader LGBTQ+-inclusive disclosure requirements.
#5
OutQUORUM advocacy on LGBTQ+ inclusion drives intersectional progress.
When we advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion, everyone benefits. OutQUORUM data demonstrates that the adoption of LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity creates an intersectional impact, driving diversity across gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, and age.
We’re all in this together.
Our 2023 OutQUORUM report demonstrates the correlation between LGBTQ+ board diversity and other demographic factors.
Did you know?
In 2021, Out Leadership member company Goldman Sachs began requiring all companies they take public to have at least 2 diverse (including LGBTQ+) board members. Loyd Blankfein was one of Out Leadership's original advisory board members.
When Out Leadership launched OutQUORUM in 2014, Goldman Sachs was one of the only two companies in the Fortune 500 that had LGBTQ-inclusive board policies. Blankfein noted, "As long as Goldman Sachs has been a publicly traded company, it’s had an out board member." Goldman Sach has long supported LGBTQ+ board diversity and OutQUORUM through its Out Leadership membership.
This edition of OutNEWS was originally published on March 1st, 2024. Get priority access in your inbox when you subscribe.