Thread by @sundersays

Will talk about race now turn into action? A new campaign @changeraceratio launches today to bring together business leaders and seek commitments to speeding up change in FTSE100/350 boardrooms, senior leadership teams + race equality in major orgs

https://twitter.com/changeraceratio/status/1320651524217987073

Lord Bilimoria is speaking to launch this campaign this morning. I have agreed to be a campaign ambassador, supporting the goals, including to see ethnic diversity in every FTSE100 boardroom by the end of next year.

One third of FTSE100 firms and two-thirds of FTSE350 currently have all-white boardrooms, in a society where one-sixth of the population is not white. There is a current voluntary goal to change that by 2021 and 2024. The campaign aims to help catalyse effective change.

Parker Review has tracked incremental progress in this area towards meeting that voluntary target/aspiration.

https://twitter.com/sundersays/status/1273735567747006465?s=19

The Investors Association says that investors expects that recent progress from focusing on gender diversity in boardrooms can now be emulated on race at the top of British business. theia.org/media/press-re…

I would like to see the Govt's Race Commission recommend that this voluntary target also apply to NHS trusts (one in three are all-white), public sector and civic society (Major charities are behind the FTSE on ethnic diversity at the top)
easterneye.biz/action-must-re…

Meritocracy should be a driver of this change. Could be done clunkily - but it should be done well. The idea that all-male boards (q.recently 50%, now 1/100) were meritocratic just misses dynamics of self-selection among narrow networks. Those were a barrier to meritocracy.

"It is not long before we will have an ethnic minority Prime Minister of this country, it is only a matter of time" says Lord Bilimoria, noting the rise from 5 non-White Parliamentarians (1987) to 70 and 100 (65 MPs + peers, after 2019).

One important way to think about this issue is as a significant 2020s challenge of change management for major institutions in our increasingly diverse society - particularly when there are different perspectives, experiences & expectations across generations.

I'm generally a quota-sceptic, Boards have a range of functions, inc ambassadorial & representative ones. Voluntary targets of no all-male FTSE100 boards can be defended as meritocracy (Cause conversation about *how* to apply meritocratic principles in practice) & extends here

Here is a short report & the webinar recording of this morning's @CBItweets event on the @changeraceratio campaign
cbi.org.uk/articles/cbi-1…