Sandra Guerra – Corporate Boards Need “Diversity in Every Sense”

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Oct 30, 2016
by Chris Hamill-Stewart
Sandra Guerra – Corporate Boards Need “Diversity in Every Sense”

Former chairwoman of the Brazilian Institute for Corporate Governors and founding partner of Better Governance discusses the importance of diversity on the governing board in a rapidly changing world

Sandra Guerra at The Corporate Balancing Act: How can Directors Manage Conflicting Pressures?

At the second session of the Salzburg Global Forum on Corporate Governance, participants used their own experiences, differing backgrounds, and varying perspectives to address questions of governance within corporations. One such topic was diversity on boards, how this diversity can be improved – and indeed if it should be.

During The Corporate Balancing Act: How can Directors Manage Conflicting Pressures? Salzburg Global spoke with Sandra Guerra, independent director of Vix Logística and founder of Better Governance, a Brazilian consultancy firm focused on improving corporate governance in the country. She not only highlighted the need for gender diversity on boards, but also expanded on the traditional ideas of board diversity.

“My experience on boards is being alone as a woman,” says Guerra, who has served on several listed and non-listed companies’ boards as a member or chair, and was the former chair of the Brazilian Institute for Corporate Governance (IBGC). Despite her experience of male-dominated boards, she believes diversity is not solely about gender: “Diversity is really important to boards, and I’m not just talking about gender diversity... Gender, age, geographical location, academic background – I mean diversity in every sense.”

Guerra acknowledges the difficulties involved in ensuring that boards are diverse but insists on its importance: “A board would be unmanageable if you have 20 people on it, so it’s challenging to find the perfect board.... There’s a limit to the size of the board, but you should try to have at least a fair amount of diversity on the board.”

While gender diversity is often highlighted, Guerra makes a clear case that it is also important to have age diversity on corporate boards. She cites innovations such as AirBnB, the largest room-sharing provider in the world: “How would a 65 or 70 year old, who has spent their whole life living in hotels, even think of this kind of thing?”

Innovation is identified as one of the major disruptions to modern business. Guerra believes younger generations are at a distinct advantage in dealing with technological changes, and this shouldn’t be ignored. When it comes to innovation and disruption, young people are not a novelty – they’re a necessity. She believes having young people on boards will mean they are better prepared for these disruptions: “You have to have some young people who are able to speak up.”

“Boards take decisions all the time, so for you to have a more robust process of decision-making, you should have different perspectives, in order to challenge perspectives,” she adds. However, diversity doesn’t guarantee the outcomes of these decisions will always be the best they possibly can be: “You can never tell if the decision would be better or not.” It is the process that benefits from diversity, not necessarily the outcome.

Guerra’s fundamental message is in that of vision on a board: Vision is achieved through diversity on boards with members who have varying experiences, opinions and backgrounds; it keeps companies ahead of the game, ready to incorporate innovation and react to disruptions – and remain successful.


Sandra Guerra was a participant at the Salzburg Global session The Corporate Balancing Act: How can Directors Manage Conflicting Pressures? More information on the session can be found here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/567