Ensuring cognitive diversity in boardrooms

CORPORATE boards need to have an appropriate level of independence and diversity of thought to make decisions in the best interests of their companies. The pandemic has heightened the importance of effective leadership in tackling challenges and creating innovative solutions to steer companies through uncharted territories.

Directors with diverse backgrounds bring different perspectives and ideas that can help to avoid groupthink and enhance the board's deliberations and decision-making processes.

Unfortunately, Singapore boards are not diverse enough.

This was borne out in the inaugural Singapore Board Diversity Index produced by the Singapore Institute of Directors and Willis Towers Watson.

The index, which is believed to be the first of its kind, assessed more than 700 companies with primary listings on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) against eight dimensions of board diversity: gender, age, tenure, board independence, cultural ethnicity, international experience, domain expertise, and industry knowledge. Instead of focusing on a single diversity metric, the overall diversity score gives a more holistic view of a board's diversity attribute…

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