ƒ Local context matters. On gender, while there is plenty more to do, some companies lead the way in both absolute average diversity and representation in top-quartile – Australia, UK, and US companies make up over 70% of this group. On ethnicity, there is less global progress, but South African and Singaporean companies have a higher representation in the top-quartile versus overall representation in data set, suggesting material progress on ethnic diversity. Lessons learned from the 17 leading companies we studied – among those that are engaging effectively with I&D – support our earlier perspective on what likely drives the relationship with performance: that more diverse companies are better able to attract top talent; to improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making; and to secure their license to operate. While progress has been slow on average, individual companies have made real strides in improving their I&D outcomes and in effectively using these results to influence business outcomes. From their experiences, we identified four imperatives for delivering impact through I&D: ƒ Commit and cascade. CEOs and leaders must articulate a compelling vision, embedded with real accountability for delivery, and cascade down through middle management. ƒ Link I&D to growth strategy. The I&D priorities must be explicitly defined based on what will drive the business growth strategy. Leading companies do this in a data-driven way. ƒ Craft an initiative portfolio. Initiatives in pursuit of the I&D goals should be targeted based on growth priorities, and investments made to both hard- and soft-wire the programs and culture of inclusion required to capture the intended benefits. ƒ Tailor for impact. I&D initiatives should be tailored to the relevant business area or geographic region context to maximize local buy-in and impact. This work sheds light on how companies can use diversity as an enabler of business impact. It articulates a clear opportunity for companies to promote I&D in senior decision-making roles, and specifically in line roles on executive teams. As was the case with Why Diversity Matters, correlation does not demonstrate causation. However, the statistically significant relationship observed between greater levels of diversity in the leadership of a large corporate organization and financial performance does prompt action. We encourage companies to examine the case for I&D and how it is directly relevant to their business, as leading companies are already doing. Designing a truly effective I&D strategy is no small undertaking. But we and the many companies we studied believe the potential benefits of stronger business performance are well worth the effort. Delivering through Diversity Executive summary 2