Actual lack of diversity directly impacts share price.
The share price for DGL continues to slide. This is what consequences look like & they do play an important role in business. A market is always going to react to an out pouring of negative sentiment, even if only temporarily.
With the apology now “issued”, it’s likely many will consider it dealt with. But, with any luck conversations will still be had at the highest level within the board rooms of our regulators, these will trickle down into industry conferences and eventually we may even see new policies formed.
That’s encouraging, because a wander through the comments section of the DGL ‘apology’ was an exercise in seeing that this was no ‘lone wolf’ situation. Dozens of views expressed not only supported, but openly condoned & built upon sexist /racist sentiment.
These individuals may not buy into the types of policies that will be largely reliant on self moderation, they may continue to call them cancel culture / wokeness. But when the market impact is potentially bigger than a week long hit, I’d be willing to bet it may give them some pause.
Publicly listed companies need independent directors, and we all know how hard it is to find good people. The reality of showcasing your business as a place that does not pride itself on being a safe, ethical, diverse place to work is likely a turn off. Candidates may not reflect what a top organisation should attract & in this world — people are everything. A lesson in treating poeple as a taonga class, not asset class — as the astute Te Aroha Grace puts it. In turn, business confidence is impacted & that flows to the market who lose faith. Share price recovery becomes less simple than a disengenous apology.
Through this example that DGL has made itself (via how they have handled it), it demonstrates that the market IS in fact evolving. That’s GREAT news for diversity — apparently, it DOES matter. And accountability is not via an individual’s punishment or banishment, but via a simple / important business measure that shows up in exactly the way the publicly listed companies are supposed to show value — through their price. A direct line can be drawn between lack of diversity and share price performance.
That’s a language that no matter where you sit on this is translatable. And that’s why the share price is going to be impacted where diversity is only performative.
Accountability, is not cancellation. It’s the market & all the individuals within it– the employees, investors, regulators, wealth managers, banks, suppliers, boards & directors all seizing the opportunity to growth hack important cultural change in a moment.
The value of what has happened is immense. Outside of DGL there are now hundreds of companies having real conversations about purpose, inclusivity and how they want to show up, what kind of people they want to be. That means we have a real and lasting opportunity through this to actually create cultural change.
