Women at the top is better for business and the environment

The Guardian recently ran an article referencing a few pieces of research that make a compelling argument for a balanced executive team.  Numbers are numbers, and while there are always exceptions to the rule, apparently, having women in leadership roles bode well for environmental and social issues.  Women seem wired to take the long view, where men are focused on the short-term -- which isn't a bad thing if you have shareholders.

Vision, and the ability to convey it convincingly to others, are two core attributes that McElhaney ascribes to female leadership, and ones that differ from male traits of goal-driven short-termism. 

They also help explain why, according to McElhaney’s research (pdf), companies with higher female representation on their boards tend to give higher priority to environmental and social issues. The more gender-balanced an executive team, the more likely the company is to invest in renewable power, low-carbon products and energy efficiency, her study of more than 1,500 global corporations revealed.

The findings reflect another more recent study by Credit Suisse (pdf) which shows the positive correlation between female leadership and financial performance. Between 2005 and 2013, firms with more than one woman on the board returned a compound of 3.7% a year over those with no women. Despite that, fewer than one in seven (12.9%) of those in top female management globally are female, the Credit Suisse report finds.