David A. Katz is a partner and Laura A. McIntosh is a consulting attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The following post is based on an article by Mr. Katz and Ms. McIntosh that first appeared in the New York Law Journal. The complete publication, including footnotes, is available here.
A board composed of directors representing a range of perspectives leads to an environment of collaborative tension that is the essence of good governance. In a room where everyone has different points of view and there is a greater opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas, there are fewer unspoken assumptions, less “group think” and a greater likelihood of innovation. This allows the board to ask the probing questions and tackle the challenging issues, such as risk management and succession planning, which are at the center of good corporate governance. [1]
Gender diversity on public company boards—and meaningful participation by women directors in the boardroom—is steadily increasing. Although the number of women on boards in the United States is growing more slowly than in some other countries, there has never been such consensus and collective effort toward gender diversity at the upper echelons of corporate America. A combination of regulatory, legislative, and investor-driven efforts is likely to accelerate the progress that has been made to date toward greater gender diversity and perhaps, one day, gender parity.
