Articles
Some of the most relevant articles.
Diversity and business performance
Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Survey
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Delivering growth through diversity in the workplace
McKinsey 2018 Article
Why diversity matters
McKinsey 2015 Article
Number of Women-Owned Businesses Increased Nearly 3,000% since 1972,
According to New Research
American Express Co, FT 2018
Why some teams are smarter than others
New York Times 2015 Article
Research by Anita Woolley of Carnegie Mellon and Thomas Malone of MIT
How diverse teams boost innovation
BCG 2018
Research by Rocio Lorenzo, Partner & MD, BCG
Individual success stories
A 32-Year-Old's Startup, Inspired By A Health Scare, Sells For $275 Million
Forbes, 2018
When originally raising finance, Surbhi Sarna experienced VC's limitation in relating to women's health [not a niche market, women are 50% of the world's population],
"I've been in several boardrooms with all male VCs who are like, 'Oh. This is a women's issue,"
Gender and funding
FFF Investor Melinda Gates Discusses Female Founders, The Role of LPs, Diversity, and More
Medium, Oct 2018
Melinda Gates discusses her move to investing in diverse founders. Highlighting the double untapped opportunity, of diverse led businesses, and those offering more female orientated market solutions. Categories such as 'childcare and women's health' offer wide open investment opportunities, with lower investor attention currently and broad (50% population) market potential.
'I think it’s important to highlight that market opportunity. So, this is me putting my money where my mouth is.'
Women struggle to get access to start-up funding
Financial Times 2018
Female Founders Got 2% of Venture Capital Dollars in 2017
Fortune 2018
Investors Punish Entrepreneurs for Stereotypically Feminine Behaviors
Lakshmi Balachandra is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College and a co-author of the Diana Report (2014), a comprehensive analysis of venture capital investments in women entrepreneurs.
'investors were less likely to select as finalists entrepreneurs who demonstrated stereotypically feminine behaviors like warmth and expressiveness, regardless of their gender.'
'the strategy of simply having more women investors won’t work if feminine traits are penalized in the pitching context by investors of all genders.'
'In the long run, investors need to broaden their view of what makes a successful business leader and create room for both masculine and feminine entrepreneurs (and those in the middle).'
Recordings of VCs talking about investments shows why women founders have such a hard time
Quartz, May 2017
'It’s seldom that someone outside investors’ inner circle gets an unvarnished look at deliberations.'
Researchers at Sweden’s Luleå University of Technology got that view. It’s not pretty.
Solution: After awareness training, with the skills to notice what we're unintentionally doing, bring in reminder checks along the investment decision process. Challenge yourself, and agree to challenge each other, when you notice discussions veering to stereotypes. Write down your basis for investment decisions relating to the entrepreneur, compare with other investors, and against notes on other entrepreneurs.
When stereotypical gender notions see the light of day, will they burst? Venture capitalists' gender constructions versus venturing performance facts
2018
Malin Malmströma,⁎, Aija Voitkanea, Jeaneth Johanssona,b, Joakim Wincenta
a Department of Economics and Technology and Society, Luleå University of Technology and Hanken School of Economics, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden. Halmstad University, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden
' Although often discussed, there has been limited effort to match venture capitalists’ construction of gender notions with specific facts about the entrepreneurs’ venturing activities. This study shows how stereotypical gender notions of both men and women entrepreneurs are embedded in venture capitalists’ assessments and analyses as well as explores whether or not these notions have substance based on actual performance. Drawing on interview data and statistical analysis of objective key performance information from accounting reports, we identify four myths in the evaluations of 126 venture capital applications for governmental capital that do not have any significant empirical substance. We discuss these findings’ implications for the study of myths in women's entrepreneurship. '
Spoiler alert: All four gender myths were disproved by the actual statistical business performance.
Investors prefer entrepreneurial ventures pitched by attractive men
Harvard Business Review
Why female entrepreneurs get less funding than men
Sally Herships, Marketplace
This tech investment firm published startup diversity stats for the first time and it shames venture
capital's 'collective blind spot'
Business Insider, Oct 2018
More than 90% of tech investment in Europe goes to all-male teams
FT, 2018
Atomico survey shows no progress has been made in three years despite focus on diversity
Women on Boards
30% Women on Boards - A Moment to Celebrate
Helena Morrissey, LinkedIn
California becomes first US state to require public companies to include women on boards
The Telegraph
LGIM to vote against FTSE 350 boards that do not have 25% female representation
Investment Week 2018
Missing/ Female C.E.O.s
The New York Times
Adopting an inclusive culture
Deloitte’s Radical Attempt to Reframe Diversity
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, HBR Aug 2017
Deloitte has ended its women's and diversity networks, realising separating women and diversity into special interest groups results in 'separation'. Instead, Deloitte offers all managers the skills for an inclusivity mindset and the accountability to build diverse businesses, 'skilled and ready to lead vastly more-diverse businesses and respond to increasingly diverse customer groups'.
The Hidden Newsmakers in Finance: Bloomberg Insists on More Women, Diverse Sourcing
Oct 2018
Bloomberg proactively bring diversity of expert voices to financial news. Strategic, with their growing diverse
customer base. Great news for cultural change in seeing women and men as being the expert voice.
Top 5 Ted Talks About Diversity in The Workplace
Women in the Workplace 2018
McKinsey & Lean In 2018
McKinsey reports on the 'stalled' progress of diversity at managerial level. The findings highlight early inequality at entry level hiring and promotion to manager level. Attrition is not the reason, women and men are at the same rate: asking for promotions and pay rises; remaining in the workplace; leaving a company; few leave to focus on family. The findings highlight the culture change needed, of everyday discrimination, sexual harassment, and experience of being the only woman in the room. Women holding positions of authority were markedly more likely to be sexually harassed, or have their judgement questioned.
The report closes with the 6 actions needed: targets, reporting and accountability; ensure meritocracy; senior champions; inclusive culture; make 'only woman in the room' rare; flexibility of work.
Why we think we're all objective, when we're not, and other articles on how the mind works
2 Factors That Just Might Make You Doubt Yourself