Fifteen years ago, I thought that the diversity stuff was not something I had to worry about. It was something an older generation had to fight for. In my university, we were 50-50, male-female, and we women often had better grades. So while not everything was perfect, diversity and leadership decisions was something that would happen naturally over time, right?
Pre petnaest godina, mislila sam da pitanje raznovrsnosti nije nešto o čemu bih morala brinuti. To je nešto za šta su morale da se bore neke starije generacije. Na mom univerzitetu, bilo nas je 50-50 muškaraca i žena, a mi, žene, smo često imale bolje ocene. Pa, iako nije sve bilo savršeno, raznolikost i moć odlučivanja je nešto što bi, vremenom došlo samo po sebi, zar ne?
Well, not quite. While moving up the ladder working as a management consultant across Europe and the US, I started to realize how often I was the only woman in the room and how homogenous leadership still is. Many leaders I met saw diversity as something to comply with out of political correctness, or, best case, the right thing to do, but not as a business priority. They just did not have a reason to believe that diversity would help them achieve their most immediate, pressing goals: hitting the numbers, delivering the new product, the real goals they are measured by.
Pa, ne baš. Dok sam napredovala radeći kao menadžer konsultant širom Evrope i SAD-a, počela sam da shvatam koliko sam često bila jedina žena u sobi i koliko je liderstvo još uvek homogeno. Mnogi lideri koje sam susretala videli su raznovrsnost kao nešto što upotpunjuje političku korektnost ili, u najboljem slučaju, pravu stvar koju treba uraditi, ali ne i kao poslovni prioritet. Oni jednostavno nisu imali razlog da veruju da bi im raznovrsnost pomogla da dostignu svoje najbitnije ciljeve - dostići cifre, isporučiti novi proizvod, što su pravi ciljeve koji su merljivi.
My personal experience working with diverse teams had been that while they require a little bit more effort at the beginning, they did bring fresher, more creative ideas. So I wanted to know: Are diverse organizations really more innovative, and can diversity be more than something to comply with? Can it be a real competitive advantage?
Iz mog ličnog iskustva, rad sa raznovrsnim timovima u početku zahteva malo više napora, ali donosi svežije i raznovrsnije ideje. Zbog toga sam želela da saznam da li su, stvarno, raznovrsne organizacije inovativnije i može li raznovrsnost biti nešto više od nečega sa čime se slažemo. Može li to biti stvarna konkurentska prednost?
So to find out, we set up a study with the Technical University of Munich. We surveyed 171 companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and as we speak, we're expanding the study to 1,600 companies in five additional countries around the world. We asked those companies basically two things: how innovative they are and how diverse they are.
Da bih to saznala, napravili smo studiju sa Tehničkim univerzitetom u Minhenu. Anketirali smo 171 kompaniju u Nemačkoj, Austriji i Švajcarskoj i, dok sad pričamo, proširujemo tu studiju na 1 600 kompanija u još pet zemalja širom sveta. U suštini, pitali smo te kompanije dve stvari: koliko su inovativni i koliko su raznovrsni.
To measure the first one, we asked them about innovation revenue. Innovation revenue is the share of revenues they've made from new products and services in the last three years, meaning we did not ask them how many creative ideas they have, but rather if these ideas translate into products and services that really make the company more successful today and tomorrow. To measure diversity, we looked at six different factors: country of origin, age and gender, amongst others.
Da bismo izmerili prvi, pitali smo ih o prihodima od inovacija. Prihod od inovacija je deo prihoda koji su ostvarili od novih proizvoda i usluga u poslednje tri godine, što znači da ih nismo pitali koliko su kreativnih ideja imali nego da li su te ideje realizovali u proizvode ili usluge koje su učinile da kompanija bude uspešnija danas i ubuduće. Da bismo izmerili raznovrsnost, posmatrali smo šest različitih faktora: zemlju porekla, godine starosti i pol, između ostalog.
While preparing to go in the field with those questions, I sat down with my team and we discussed what we would expect as a result. To put it mildly, we were not optimistic. The most skeptical person on the team thought, or saw a real possibility, that we would find nothing at all. Most of the team was rather on the cautious side, so we landed all together at "only if," meaning that we might find some kind of link between innovation and diversity, but not across the board -- rather only if certain criteria are met, for example leadership style, very open leadership style that allowed people to speak up freely and safely and contribute.
Dok smo se pripremali da izađemo na teren sa tim pitanjima, sela sam sa mojim timom i razgovarali smo o tome šta možemo da očekujemo kao rezultat. Blago rečeno, nismo bili optimistični. Najskeptičnija osoba u timu je mislila ili predvidela realnu mogućnost da nećemo baš ništa naći. Većina tima je bila oprezna, pa smo se složili svi zajedno sa „samo ako“, u smislu da možda nađemo neku vezu između inovacija i raznovrsnosti, ali da ne pređemo granicu, nego samo ako se određeni kriterijumi ispune, kao što je, na primer, stil liderstva, vrlo otvoren stil liderstva koji će dozvoliti ljudima da slobodno i sigurno govore i doprinose.
A couple of months later, the data came in, and the results convinced the most skeptical amongst us. The answer was a clear yes, no ifs, no buts. The data in our sample showed that more diverse companies are simply more innovative, period.
Nekoliko meseci kasnije, podaci su stigli, i rezultati su uverili čak i najskeptičnije među nama. Odgovor je bio potpuno potvrdan, bez „ako“ ili „ali“. Podaci u našem uzorku su pokazali da su raznovrsnije kompanije jednostavno inovativnije i tačka.
Now, a fair question to ask is the chicken or the egg question, meaning, are companies really more innovative because they have a more diverse leadership, or the other way around? Which way is it? Now, we do not know how much is correlation versus causation, but what we do know is that clearly, in our sample, companies that are more diverse are more innovative, and that companies that are more innovative have more diverse leadership, too. So it's fair to assume that it works both ways, diversity driving innovation and innovation driving diversity.
Sada, pitanje koje se nameće je šta je starije, kokoška ili jaje, u smislu da li su kompanije stvarno inovativnije zato što imaju raznovrsnije rukovodstvo ili obrnuto? Šta je od ta dva? Sad, ne znamo odnos korelacija i uzročnosti, ali ono što znamo je da, svakako, u našem uzorku kompanije koje su raznovrsnije su inovativnije, a kompanije koje su inovativnije takođe, imaju raznovrsnije rukovodstvo. Tako, možemo pretpostaviti da to radi u oba smera - raznovrsnost podstiče inovativnost i inovativnost podstiče raznovrsnost.
Now, once we published the results, we were surprised about the reactions in the media. We got quite some attention. And it went from quite factual, like "Higher Female Share Boosts Innovation" to a little bit more sensationalist.
E, sad, kada smo objavili rezultate, bili smo iznenađeni reakcijama medija. Privukli smo dosta pažnje. Ona se kretala od prilično činjeničnih, kao: „Veći udeo žena jača inovacije“ do malo manje senzacionalističkih.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
As you can see, "Stay-at-home Women Cost Trillions," and, my personal favorite, "Housewives Kill Innovation." Well, there's no such thing as bad publicity, right?
Kao što možete videti: „Žene koje ostaju kod kuće koštaju trilione“ i, moja omiljena je: „Domaćice ubijaju inovacije.“ Pa, ne postoji nešto što se zove loš publicitet, zar ne?
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
On the back of that coverage, we started to get calls from senior executives wanting to understand more, especially -- surprise, surprise -- about gender diversity. I tend to open up those discussions by asking, "Well, what do you think of the situation in your organization today?" And a frequent reaction to that is, "Well, we're not yet there, but we're not that bad." One executive told me, for example, "Oh, we're not that bad. We have one member in our board who is a woman."
Na kraju tog medijskog pokrivanja, počeli smo da dobijamo pozive od viših rukovodilaca koji su želeli da saznaju više, posebno - kakvo iznenađenje - o polnoj raznovrsnosti. Ove diskusije sam započinjala sa pitanjem: „Pa, šta mislite, kakva je situacija u vašoj organizaciji danas?“ i veoma česta reakcija na to je bila: „Pa, nismo još dostigli taj nivo, ali nismo ni tako loši.“ Jedan rukovodilac mi je, na primer, rekao: „O, pa nismo tako loši. Imamo jednu ženu koja je član našeg odbora.“
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And you laugh --
Smejete se...
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Now, you laugh, but he had a point in being proud about it, because in Germany, if you have a company and it has one member on the board who is a woman, you are part of a select group of 30 out of the 100 largest publicly listed companies. The other 70 companies have an all-male board, and not even one of these hundred largest publicly listed companies have, as of today, a female CEO. But here's the critically important insight. Those few female board members alone, they won't make a difference. Our data shows that for gender diversity to have an impact on innovation, you need to have more than 20 percent women in leadership. Let's have a look at the numbers. As you can see, we divided the sample into three groups, and the results are quite dramatic. Only in the group where you have more than 20 percent women in leadership, only then you see a clear jump in innovation revenue to above-average levels. So experience and data shows that you do need critical mass to move the needle, and companies like Alibaba, JP Morgan or Apple have as of today already achieved that threshold.
Vi se sad smejete, ali on je s pravom bio ponosan na to, zato što u Nemačkoj, ako imate kompaniju i ako je jedan član odbora žena, vi ste deo izabrane grupe od 30 među 100 najvećih javno upisanih kompanija. Ostalih 70 kompanija imaju samo muškarce u odboru, a čak nijedna od tih sto kompanija nema, ni dan danas, ženu direktora. Ali, evo šta je od ključne važnosti. Tih nekoliko žena u odboru neće nešto promeniti. Naši podaci pokazuju da, ako govorimo o uticaju polne raznovrsnosti na inovativnost, morate imati više od 20% žena u rukovodstvu. Pogledajmo brojke. Kao što možete da vidite, podelili smo uzorke u tri grupe i rezultati su prilično dramatični. Samo u grupi gde je preko 20% žena u rukovodstvu vidite jasan skok prihoda od inovacija iznad prosečnog nivoa. Tako, iskustvo i podaci pokazuju da vam treba kritična masa da biste pomerili kurs, a kompanije kao što su Alibaba, JP Morgan ili Epl već su postigle taj nivo.
Another reaction I got quite a lot was, "Well, it will get solved over time." And I have all the sympathy in the world for that point of view, because I used to think like that, too. Now, let's have a look here again and look at the numbers, taking Germany as an example. Let me first give you the good news. So the share of women who are college graduates and have at least 10 years of professional experience has grown nicely over the last 20 years, which means the pool in which to fish for female leaders has increased over time, and that's great. Now, according to my old theory, the share of women in leadership would have grown more or less in parallel, right? Now, let's have a look at what happened in reality. It's not even close, which means I was so wrong and which means that my generation, your generation, the best-educated female generation in history, we have just not made it. We have failed to achieve leadership in significant numbers. Education just did not translate into leadership.
Još jedna reakcija sa kojom sam se često susretala je: „Pa, rešiće se to tokom vremena.“ I meni je ovakav stav jako simpatičan zato što sam i ja tako nekad razmišljala. Sad, pogledamo još jednom ovamo, pogledajte brojke, uzimajući Nemačku kao primer. Prvo ću vam reći dobre vesti. Udeo žena koje imaju fakultetsku diplomu i imaju najmanje 10 godina profesionalnog iskustva porastao je prilično u poslednjih 20 godina, što znači da se baza za lov na žene lidere povećala tokom vremena, i to je sjajno. E, sad, prema mojoj staroj teoriji, udeo žena u rukovođenju bi trebalo da je porastao paralelno sa tim, zar ne? E, sad, pogledajmo šta se, u stvari, desilo u stvarnosti. Nije čak ni blizu, što znači da ja nisam bila u pravu i što znači da je moja generacija, vaša generacija, najškolovanije generacije žena u istoriji, jednostavno nisu uspele. Nismo uspele da postanemo lideri u značajnoj meri. Obrazovanje se, jednostavno, nije pretvorilo u liderstvo.
Now, that was a painful realization for me and made me realize, if we want to change this, we need to engage, and we need to do better. Now, what to do? Achieving more than 20 percent women in leadership seems like a daunting task to many, understandably, given the track record. But it's doable, and there are many companies today that are making progress there and doing it successfully. Let's take SAP, the software company, as an example. They had, in 2011, 19 percent women in leadership, yet they decided to do better, and they did what you do in any other area of business where you want to improve. They set themselves a measurable target. So they set themselves a target of 25 percent for 2017, which they have just achieved. The goals made them think more creatively about developing leaders and tapping new recruiting pools. They now even set a target of 30 percent women in leadership for 2022.
To je bilo bolno priznanje za mene i nateralo me je da shvatim da, ako želimo da promenimo ovo, moramo da se angažujemo i moramo biti bolje. E, sad, šta da radimo? Postizanje više od 20% žena u rukovodstvu deluje mnogima kao zastrašujući zadatak, što je razumljivo, sudeći po rezultatima. Ali, to je ipak moguće; ima mnogo kompanija danas, koje napreduju u tom pogledu i to rade uspešno. Uzmimo, kao primer, SAP, softversku kompaniju. Oni su u 2011. godini imali 19% žena u rukovodstvu. Ipak, oni su odlučili da napreduju i napravili su ono što se radi u bilo kojoj drugoj oblasti poslovanja gde želite da napredujete. Postavili su sebi merljive ciljeve. Postavili su sebi cilj - 25% za 2017. godinu, koje su upravo postigli. Ciljevi ih teraju da kreativnije razmišljaju o razvoju liderstva i istraživanju novih mogućnosti regrutovanja. Sada su čak postavili cilj od 30% žena rukovodilaca do 2022. godine.
So experience shows it's doable, and at the end of the day, it all boils down to two decisions that are taken every day in every organization by many of us: who to hire and who to develop and promote. Now, nothing against women's programs, networks, mentoring, trainings. All is good. But it is these two decisions that at the end of the day send the most powerful change signal in any organization.
Dakle, iskustvo pokazuje da je moguće, a na kraju, sve se svodi na dve odluke koje mnogi od nas u svakoj organizaciji svakodnevno donose - koga da zaposlimo i koga da nadogradimo i unapredimo. Nemam ništa protiv programa za žene, umrežavanja, mentorskog rada, treninga. Sve je to dobro. Ali, ipak su te dve odluke one koje na kraju šalju najmoćniji signal za promenu u svakoj organizaciji.
Now, I never set out to be a diversity advocate. I am a business advisor. But now my goal is to change the face of leadership, to make it more diverse -- and not so that leaders can check a box and feel like they have complied with something or they have been politically correct. But because they understand, they understand that diversity is making their organization more innovative, better. And by embracing diversity, by embracing diverse talent, we are providing true opportunity for everyone.
Nikad nisam mislila da ću biti advokat specijalizovan za raznovrsnost; ja sam poslovni savetnik. Ali, sada je moj cilj da promenim lice liderstva, da ga učinim raznovrsnijim, i ne samo da bi lideri mogli da štikliraju kvadratić i da se osećaju kao da su se sa nečim složili ili da su politički korektni, nego zato što razumeju, shvataju da raznovrsnost čini njihovu organizaciju inovativnijom i boljom. Prihvatanjem raznovrsnosti i različitih sklonosti obezbeđujemo pravu priliku za svakog.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Hvala vam. Mnogo vam hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)