Courtesy TheMarkNews.com
If you took a picture of the city’s senior leadership today, you’d think it was 1960, not 2010.
In
the past 50 years the city has changed from a predominately white,
European, Protestant and Catholic city, to one that speaks more than
100 languages, prays at churches, synagogues, and mosques, and where
almost half the population is a visible minority. In no other place can
so much prosperity be attributed to the contributions of newcomers and
their children.
Yet Toronto’s boardrooms, political
appointments, senior executives, and elected offices have failed to
keep pace with this change. According to research by Wendy Cukier and
Margaret Yap at Ryerson University, only 13 per cent of more than 3,000
GTA leaders they looked at are visible minorities.
The good
news is that the education sector is the most diverse. Diverse schools
provide role models for students, support inclusive teaching
curriculum, and promote stronger relationships with visible minority
parents.
The bad news, however, is that the voluntary sector,
at only 13 per cent, does not rank as high as you might expect, and the
corporate sector is the least diverse, with only 5 per cent of board
members and 3 per cent of executives who are visible minorities.
This
is a missed opportunity. Research has shown a link between diversity in
leadership and improved financial and organization performance. The
Conference Board of Canada has noted that it can help companies grow
into new global and domestic markets, find new talent, and ultimately
enhance innovation. A diverse senior management makes better decisions
because more views are taken into account and no assumptions are taken
for granted. Dupont and IBM are two examples of companies that have
seen the benefits of diversity. When they diversified their design
teams, they saw business grow by $45 million and $290 million
respectively.
Toronto has been hit hard by the recession, with
unemployment rates as high as 9.1 per cent for those born in Canada and
17.7 per cent for recent immigrants. Diversity in leadership could be
an unparalleled advantage as the city recovers, unique to Toronto and a
model for the world. It could help us reach out to new markets, bolster
our international reputation, and help us to attract the best talent
from around the world.
Change in leadership will naturally
happen over time, but we can’t afford to wait. Today’s leaders need to
accelerate this transformation. Many of them provide mentorship to the
next generation, though, unconsciously, they often choose to mentor
those who look like them, who went to the same school or had similar
work experience. To successfully diversify leadership we must look for
talent in new or unusual places.
Much of Toronto’s future
talent will arrive from overseas. Already all of the city’s net labour
force growth comes from immigration, and almost 100,000 more people
arrive every year. Their skills and international work experience is
essential in a global economy. We need to see this talent as a
competitive advantage, not a risk to be mitigated with the requirement
for Canadian work experience.
Organizations should make
diversity a priority, set targets, and meet them. This is what the City
of Toronto’s public appointment secretariat did with the help of
[DiverseCity OnBoard](http://www.maytree.com/divcity/onboard). The city
increased visible minority representation on its boards significantly,
from 21 per cent in 2003-2004 to 31 per cent in 2007-2008.
These
organizations are now more responsive to the communities they serve
because a variety of views are brought into their decision making
process. They can serve their clients better because they understand
their needs and so are more relevant to their community.
Diversity
in leadership sends a message about who belongs and who doesn’t, about
whose voice matters and whose doesn’t. In a city like Toronto, we need
those who lead institutions to reflect the people they serve.
The Mark is Canada’s online forum for news commentary and opinion.
Related Links:
Audio:
Toronto is wasting an opportunity by not tapping into the city's
diversity, says Sandra Lopes
Institutional
diversity would improve the spirits - and finances - of Canada's
minorities, writes Maytree Foundation President Ratna Omidvar
More by Sandra Lopes
