A report card on diversity: Lessons for business from higher education

Institutions of higher learning in the United States have long played a dis proportionate role in supplying leadership talent to the world's business a nd professional organizations. For 30 years, the most selective schools hav e been working to increase diversity in their student bodies. New research by the former presidents of Princeton and Harvard suggests that the experie nces and initiatives of these academic institutions can provide business le aders with insight into how to create diverse organizations that succeed. The first insight has to do with clarity of mission. It is not enough to pu rsue diversity because it is "the right thing to do." In an insert, Raymond Gilmartin, the CEO of Merck, echoes that view, discussing the relationship between diversity and Merck's competitiveness. The second insight concerns recruiting. The authors challenge what they cal l "the myth of pure merit," the notion that recruiting is a precise science based only on grades and test scores. Instead, they argue, merit is about assembling a team by deciding which applicants, considered individually and collectively, will contribute most to achieving the company's goals. The third insight concerns how organizations help employees perform to thei r potential. Of the factors contributing to high graduation rates at the mo st selective schools, higher expectations and the efforts of mentors stand out as most important. Finally, the fourth insight is about how to achieve accountability in a cor porate setting. Boards must ask: Are our recruiting policies working? and H ow are recruited employees doing? Reprint 99102.