ƒ Just as we cannot assert causality, we cannot say definitively what drives the correlations we find. It is theoretically possible that the better financial outperformance enables companies to achieve greater levels of diversity. Companies that perform well financially may choose to deploy more of their resources toward more advanced talent strategies, thus allowing them to attract more diverse talent, for example. However, in practice, this seems unlikely. We have observed that most companies only embark on a major transformation when they have a burning platform to do so. ƒ Standardized measures of inclusion need to be developed. It is now broadly accepted that inclusion is a requirement if diversity is to have a real impact. All leading companies we studied have developed ways to measure inclusion, including employee surveys and proxies. We would expect to see a positive correlation between inclusiveness and financial performance should a standardized measure of inclusiveness be available. ƒ Measuring diversity in critical value creation roles is a logical next step in this analysis, as an outside-in assessment of top teams is limited in its ability to focus on diversity in value-critical business areas and roles throughout the organization. 39 Delivering through Diversity Methodology