Corporate boards lack significant race and gender diversity. The numbers have improved over the years, but have moved relatively little in the last ten years. The percentage of board seats held by women in Fortune 100 companies increased from 14.9% in 2004 to 15.5% in 2010, while the percentage of board seats held by minorities (including female minorities) increased from 16.9% in 2004 to 18% in 2010. There is a great deal of discussion in the popular press about the lack of board diversity and the need for more diverse boards, with some European countries having mandated board gender diversity quotas. We began this project with these numbers as a backdrop and an interest in two related questions: Why do corporate boards pursue diversity (defined in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity)—even to the limited extent that they do—and what difference might diversity make to how boards work? There has been substantial quantitative research on the second of these questions, and the results can fairly be described as mixed.

Our research has employed a qualitative interview strategy to pursue both questions. We have interviewed fifty-seven people with direct experience with corporate boards, as directors, executives, consultants, regulators, or proxy advisors. Fifty of these serve or have served as directors of publicly traded corporations. Using a method rooted in anthropology and discourse analysis, we have worked from a general topic outline and conducted open-ended interviews in which we encouraged respondents to raise and develop issues of interest to them.

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