Before turning to the theme of this month’s journal, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to our latest Annual Corporate and Regulatory Update (ACRU) webinar. Held on 9 June, this year’s ACRU was another tour de force for our speakers, panellists and senior members who chaired the five sessions of the webinar. This year’s event generated a lively debate about the current and emerging regulatory issues that anyone in the governance field needs to keep under close watch.
Look out for a full review of ACRU 2022 in next month’s journal and please mark the date of our next flagship event – our 13th Biennial Corporate Governance Conference (CGC), which will be held
in hybrid mode on 23 September 2022. Our CGCs demonstrate our Institute’s commitment to our role as a thought leader on issues relevant to our profession and the wider context within which we work. This year’s CGC, on the theme Repurposing in Changing Times – the Company, Governance and the Governance Professional, will address how the purpose of the company, governance itself and governance professionals should be redefined to meet the needs of the 21st century.
This month’s journal looks at an issue that has been a feature of our Institute’s research and advocacy work for some time – diversity and inclusion (D&I). Our first report to address this issue – Diversity on the Boards of Hong Kong Main Board Listed Companies – was published in 2012. Our latest report in this space, published in February 2021, was Missing Opportunities? A Review of Gender Diversity on Hong Kong Boards, which called for Hong Kong’s Corporate Governance Code to be amended to include a target of a minimum 30% female representation on boards within a six-year transition period.
Since that report came out, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX) has introduced new requirements on diversity. These requirements are set out in this month’s cover story so I will not go into further detail on them here. As our cover story points out, when it comes to D&I, compliance with the regulatory requirements will only take you halfway towards the real goal anyway. This is because they have to concentrate on the measurable, outward signs of good D&I – namely a diverse combination of skills, demographics, experience, gender, and educational and professional backgrounds among directors and employees. While this is certainly a prerequisite for benefiting from good D&I, a further step is required – to create a corporate culture that values, rewards and supports individual differences.
Diversity and inclusion are bolted together in the D&I acronym, but there is a distinction between the two. Diversity refers to how varied the mix of individuals is within your organisation, while inclusion is all about creating a culture that provides ‘psychological safety’ for individuals to be different and, critically, to think differently. Diversity without inclusion is tokenism and will not necessarily lead to the competitive advantages that follow from having a genuinely diverse and inclusive workplace.
Finally, I would like to add that our Institute will continue to promote better D&I and assist our own members to prepare themselves for board roles. As our cover story points out, the low number of female directors in Hong Kong currently, together with the new diversity requirements under the Listing Rules and Corporate Governance Code, will make for considerable opportunities for appropriately qualified women. The training of our members, about 70% of whom are female, as well as their experience of working for and on boards, makes them ideal candidates to take up those opportunities in the years ahead.
Look out for a full review of ACRU 2022 in next month’s journal and please mark the date of our next flagship event – our 13th Biennial Corporate Governance Conference (CGC), which will be held
in hybrid mode on 23 September 2022. Our CGCs demonstrate our Institute’s commitment to our role as a thought leader on issues relevant to our profession and the wider context within which we work. This year’s CGC, on the theme Repurposing in Changing Times – the Company, Governance and the Governance Professional, will address how the purpose of the company, governance itself and governance professionals should be redefined to meet the needs of the 21st century.
This month’s journal looks at an issue that has been a feature of our Institute’s research and advocacy work for some time – diversity and inclusion (D&I). Our first report to address this issue – Diversity on the Boards of Hong Kong Main Board Listed Companies – was published in 2012. Our latest report in this space, published in February 2021, was Missing Opportunities? A Review of Gender Diversity on Hong Kong Boards, which called for Hong Kong’s Corporate Governance Code to be amended to include a target of a minimum 30% female representation on boards within a six-year transition period.
Since that report came out, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX) has introduced new requirements on diversity. These requirements are set out in this month’s cover story so I will not go into further detail on them here. As our cover story points out, when it comes to D&I, compliance with the regulatory requirements will only take you halfway towards the real goal anyway. This is because they have to concentrate on the measurable, outward signs of good D&I – namely a diverse combination of skills, demographics, experience, gender, and educational and professional backgrounds among directors and employees. While this is certainly a prerequisite for benefiting from good D&I, a further step is required – to create a corporate culture that values, rewards and supports individual differences.
Diversity and inclusion are bolted together in the D&I acronym, but there is a distinction between the two. Diversity refers to how varied the mix of individuals is within your organisation, while inclusion is all about creating a culture that provides ‘psychological safety’ for individuals to be different and, critically, to think differently. Diversity without inclusion is tokenism and will not necessarily lead to the competitive advantages that follow from having a genuinely diverse and inclusive workplace.
Finally, I would like to add that our Institute will continue to promote better D&I and assist our own members to prepare themselves for board roles. As our cover story points out, the low number of female directors in Hong Kong currently, together with the new diversity requirements under the Listing Rules and Corporate Governance Code, will make for considerable opportunities for appropriately qualified women. The training of our members, about 70% of whom are female, as well as their experience of working for and on boards, makes them ideal candidates to take up those opportunities in the years ahead.
