Anna Han on Diversity on the Board of Directors

Interim Dean Anna Han has published Diversity on the Board of Directors: A Suggestion to Look Outside Your “Board”ers, 4 J. Corp. Affs. & Corp. Crimes 1 (2018). (This essay was published last week even though the volume is dated December 2018.) In this essay, Dean Han raises the concern that corporations that purport to seek diversity on their corporate board of directors may nonetheless insist that diverse candidates share a similar education, professional training, and socioeconomic background with incumbent or traditional board members. Dean Han proposes inclusion of board members from countries beyond the borders of the corporation’s principal place of business as an efficient means to diversify the corporate board. She argues that such a board member is likely to bring a different education, cultural background, and perspective to the board and, thus, also is likely to introduce a different approach to problem-solving. “By looking outside one’s borders, the issue of getting candidates that offer superficial diversity but in reality, are from the same background and view issues through the same lens is also avoided.”