It’s a well-documented fact that diverse leadership teams outperform their homogeneous competition. One oft-neglected piece of the inclusion picture is generational diversity—that is, having a range of ages and experiences represented. So the news this month that Rivian Automotive Inc. elected a 32-year old, Alexandra Ford English, to its board of directors might have raised a few eyebrows, as the average age of corporate board members is 63.5 years.
Ford English’s appointment, however, is a shrewd move by a cutting-edge company: adding a Millennial, someone who’s grown up in the age of corporate social responsibility, who has whole-life experience with connectivity and social media, as well as specific professional experience working to solve the self-driving conundrum seems a no-brainer decision for this maker of electric trucks.
Other organizations would be well-served to consider adding Gen X and Millennials to their boardrooms. While traditional board members will continue to bring leadership and finance experience (the two leading criteria for board service), younger directors can be pursued for their expertise in technology, cybersecurity, climate, and social issues – all areas of concern for boards – amongst many other skills and experiences.
And generational diversity on boards goes both ways: Bridge Partners was recently engaged by a leading Millennial-led organization to identify potential board members who could bring a greater number of years of experience and some of the more traditional traits, including having lived through numerous business and election cycles, accumulated wisdom, and prior leadership experience.
When considering increasing the diversity of your board through your next director appointment(s), consider expanding the criteria for talent to include someone of a different age cohort to the majority. Their additive viewpoint could be critical in how your organization moves from inertia to innovation.
