Heidrick & Struggles Launches New Dedicated Diversity & Inclusion Practice to Help Companies Accelerate Performance
– Firm brings decades of D&I experience to companies seeking to attract, develop and retain diverse talent, and create inclusive cultures that innovate and accelerate performance
– New global survey finds only 27% of executives consider their companies to be inclusive to a large extent, despite clear benefits
Heidrick & Struggles (NASDAQ: HSII), a global provider of executive search, leadership assessment and development, organization and team effectiveness, and culture shaping services, today announced the launch of its newly formed Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Practice. The new practice brings together highly experienced Heidrick & Struggles consultants from executive search and consulting around the globe to help clients build diverse and inclusive leadership teams and organizations with a comprehensive, integrated suite of services across talent recruitment, leadership assessment and development, and organizational transformation.
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“More so than at any other time, leaders today need to be agile, responsive and inclusive, seeking input from executives with different viewpoints, experiences and backgrounds,” said Krishnan Rajagopalan, President and CEO, Heidrick & Struggles. “During this COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot overstate how critical it is to have diverse voices and inclusive leadership across an organization. Our newly launched D&I Practice brings our consultants’ expertise in recruiting and developing top diverse talent together with our in-depth experience in creating inclusive leadership teams and workplace cultures to help organizations deliver demonstrable change and accelerate performance, both in times of crisis and for the future.”
In a recent global survey conducted by Heidrick & Struggles, the firm explored how executives at large public and private companies in North America, Europe and Australia perceive the D&I efforts of their organizations, including contribution to business success. The survey specifically delved into how clearly companies have been defining and communicating D&I goals, linking them to strategy and assessing their contribution to business results, and creating inclusive cultures. Of the 412 executives surveyed, only 22% of respondents said they are seeing D&I efforts contribute to their companies’ business success to a large extent – but one group of respondents more often saw a significant contribution. That subset of respondents said their organizations clearly define both diversity and inclusion, link them to business strategy, and assess their D&I efforts on a financial basis. Notably, their companies also generated a five-year revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 62% higher than that of the other companies in the survey.
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“Companies face unprecedented challenges right now, which only underscores the need to ensure D&I efforts are a tangible force for good and, ultimately, impactful for their business,” said Lyndon Taylor, Managing Partner, Diversity & Inclusion Practice, Heidrick & Struggles. “Our experience suggests that while definitions and strategies for D&I are far more prevalent than they were even a decade ago, most still fall far short of committing to the breadth of change necessary to fundamentally shift an organization. To drive real change, the leaders of companies, specifically the C-suite, have to clearly link diversity and inclusion to their business strategies and model inclusive leadership behaviors.”
Heidrick & Struggles’ D&I Practice is uniquely positioned in the marketplace, integrating its executive search capabilities to help companies attract diverse leaders, with its in-depth consulting experience and data-driven approach to developing and retaining top diverse talent, and creating inclusive workplace cultures. With an expansive network of consultants across all major commercial sectors, the firm’s D&I Practice works with companies seeking to link their D&I goals to their strategic business outcomes. The D&I Practice is led by Lyndon Taylor, along with Jennifer Flock, Partner, Europe D&I Practice Consulting Lead, and Christianne Garofalo, Partner, Americas D&I Practice Consulting Lead.
In addition to its new D&I Practice, Heidrick & Struggles continues to underscore its commitment to further promote diversity and inclusion at the top through its Board Diversity Pledge, a commitment to help boards diversify, and the Director Institute, an apprenticeship program designed to accelerate the development of diverse executives and prepare them for broader operating roles and corporate board service.