The Rosenzweig Report continues to play an important role in keeping the conversation about women in leadership grounded in data and focused on progress. While we have seen meaningful gains over time, progress at the very top, and particularly in key operational roles, continues to lag. Most of Canada’s largest companies now have a diverse slate of independent directors. Where progress has not kept pace is on the executive and CEO pipeline side. Women are still more likely to be placed in, or move into, functional leadership roles, and less likely to take on the operational and profit and loss responsibilities that most often lead to the office of the CEO. This matters greatly, because leadership teams shape how organizations allocate capital, manage risk, build culture, develop next gen talent and compete over the long term. When the full breadth of talent is not moving through the pipeline into the most senior operating roles, companies are not only limiting opportunity, they can be limiting performance. Sustained attention, transparency, accountability and support remain essential if organizations want to see more women represented in roles that ultimately shape business strategy, culture, and results. The Rosenzweig Report helps ensure this continuing challenge stays firmly on the leadership agenda.
| – | Kathleen Taylor, Former President & CEO, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts; Former Chair, Royal Bank of Canada |