Negocios Now

www.negociosnow.com 22 Octubre 2020 NegociosNow NegociosNow By David Steinkraus D espite their signifi- cance in the economy, Hispanics are not well represented on U.S. corporate boards, and corporate America must understand this situation is woefully inadequate, said Cid Wilson, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility in Washington, D.C. A report from the business consulting firm Deloitte, in collaboration with the Alliance for Board Diversity, said that in 2018 only about 3% of Fortune 500 board seats were held by Hispanic men. "If you're Latina, it's even worse," Wilson said. (It's 1%.) Corporations need to reali- ze it's in their best interest to have board diversity in addition to workforce diversity, Wilson said. Davos There is the moral argument — that diversity is the right thing to do — but Wilson has another argument that he said found traction in late January when he was at the World Eco- nomic Forum in Davos, Swit- zerland. This was the third trip to the forum for HACR, he said. He was not a speaker at the main conference but was invi- ted to events around the peri- meter of the forum, and he said a lot happens on the perimeter. "I talked about the globaliza- tion case as to why companies will get better ROI investing in U.S. Hispanics than they will get with their current globaliza- tion strategy," Wilson said. He asked company represen- tatives if they would be interes- ted in investing in the eighth- largest economy, a dollar-deno- minated place with a low inter- est-rate risk and low cost-of- capital risk, strong regulatory environment, English language preference, and growing faster than most developed and some developing countries. "Of cour- se, everyone said yes. I said, I just described the U.S. Hispanic community," Wilson said. Investing in the U.S. Hispanic community, by putting more Hispanics on corporate boards and building a strong, culture- based branding and marketing program, will position compa- nies for the future by attracting the interest and loyalty now of the Hispanic community, which has a median age of only 28, Wilson said. For Hispanics, changing corporate board represen- tation also means recogni- zing how board members are chosen and how Hispa- BUILDING BOARD PRESENCE, IT'S WHO YOU KNOW Foto cortesía Cid Wilson "I f you're in a room, and none of your fellow board directors have any connections to the corporate sector, whereby they might be named to a corporate board," Wilson said, "the odds of you getting selected for a corporate board seat when there is no one noticing you go down significantly." "I talked about the globalization case as to why companies will get better ROI investing in U.S. Hispanics than they will get with their current globalization strategy," nics can join that process, Wilson said. Only one-third of corporate board recruits are found through search firms, he said, and HACR has good relationships with those firms to provide refe- rrals. The other two-thirds of board seats are filled through networks. As part of its mission, HACR provides training for people who want to move onto corporate boards, Wil- son said. Part of the training is teaching people how to first gain a seat on the board of the right kind of non- profit organization. Hospi- tal boards, museum boards, boards of nonprofits such as the American Cancer Socie- ty, and the boards of private non-profit colleges all have a long history of preparing people for corporate boar- drooms, Wilson said. Be on the right board, Wil- son said, and a time will come when another member of the board cannot accept a third or fifth corporate board seat and will refer to a fellow non- profit board member. "If you're in a room, and none of your fellow board directors have any connec- tions to the corporate sec- tor, whereby they might be named to a corporate board," Wilson said, "the odds of you getting selected for a corpo- rate board seat when there is no one noticing you go down significantly." Cid Wilson, a Dominican American and president and CEO of Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), the nation's largest advocacy group advancing Hispanic inclusion in Corporate America, spoke with Negocios Now about diversity and inclusion in corporate leadership.

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