Mister Quota - Building Gender Balanced Business

• US journalist Kate Sweetman recently interviewed former Norwegian trade minister Ansgar Gabrielsen about his decision to push forward the legislation setting a 40% quota for women on the boards of publicly listed corporations.

• “While the larger story is fascinating,” said Sweetmen, “I was equally intrigued by the person of Mr. Gabrielsen. How is it that a lifelong politician, a conservative, a self-avowed non-feminist, took the leap of forcing such a dramatic change?”

• Gabrielsen believed that diversity equals better performance. He said: “Too many boards have seven, nine, eleven people who are made in the same factory, very often with the same education, very often in the same year. They go sailing, boar hunting and salmon fishing together. They dine in the same restaurant. They are very alike. I believe in the opposite. It is important that people think their own, different thoughts, and gets to say what is needed, not what is wanted.”

• It was all about the business case. Gabrielsen is not a feminist, he said, “I am a conservative. I am practical, rational and I want Norway to flourish.”

• It took a conservative man, in Gabrielsen’s opinion, to push through this kind of radical programme. “In October 2001, I was made Minister of Economics and Trade. In six months, I decided for myself: ‘I will be the one who makes the difference.’ I knew that the person who would make a difference had to be a conservative man from business – or a minister of trade – not from a female or a female advocate.”

• The logic of the argument in favour of increasing the proportion of women in the boardroom was clear to Gabrielsen. “I believe that women are equal to or better than men. Why? Women don’t take high risks. These big international scandals – Enron, Elf – the people who got them in trouble were men. The whistle blowers were all women. I wanted to break up the alpha male club. We had educated 50/50 boys and girls. The women had the experience. There was no reason why they should not advance to the highest levels.”

Source: Decoding Leadership, Fast Company