The right way forward is a proactive approach to genuine diversity that would rightly reject performative box-ticking.
Company boards would be more diverse if appointments were guided by a “simplistic rule of thumb” rather than enforced by prescriptive box-ticking rules, according to former Telstra chairman and current chair of Qantas John Mullen.
In a speech to the Australian Institute of Company Directors today, Mullen will say that good corporate governance calls for boards to be made up of three broad groups of directors to ensure the right mix of skills and backgrounds. The first group is directors with in-depth industry knowledge, especially in technology-heavy sectors. The second group is directors with the technical expertise to comply with corporate regulation. There is also a need for a third group of directors “who bring true diversity to the board” and “real diversity of thinking around the boardroom table”.
Source: https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/management/mullen-is-on-the-money-on-genuine-board-diversity-20250310-p5libs