Male, pale and stale: too many corporate boards persist in denying seats to women and minorities.

• Author: Johnston, J. Phillips L.
• Position: Board composition

IN 1963, IN THE SHADOW of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., a young man gave one of history's most famous speeches. The man spoke for an entire race of people who, since their arrival on these shores more than 200 years earlier, had been denied equality in almost every aspect of American life. The man was passionate and eloquent. Most memorably, he spoke of a dream for his children and for his people. Five years later, after being vilified in the national media, spat on, bruised by water cannon, attacked by police dogs, jailed, and threatened with death, the man was assassinated.

Today, much of the man's dream has come true, yet much remains to be done. In no place is this truer than in the corporate boardroom.

It's appropriate to evoke the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for we can't speak of diversity, multiculturalism, or minority opportunity--in any industry--without acknowledging Dr. King's seminal role in laying the groundwork upon which the dream was built. Our country has come far in 40 years; yet were he alive today, Dr. King would not be satisfied. And, frankly, neither should the chairmen of America's corporate boardrooms.

A corporate shame

Although strides continue to be made to diversify America's corporate work force--and the supervisors, managers, and directors who oversee it--the corporate boardroom remains overwhelmingly white and male. In October 2003, women and other minorities made up 51% of the employed American work force. However, 10% of all directors at S & P 1500 companies are women and 8.8% are minorities, according to the Investor Responsibility Research Center in Washington. There is even less diversity in the boardrooms of smaller public firms. This is a corporate shame. It is indefensible. And, even more to the point, at the midpoint of the first decade of the 21st century, this shortsightedness borders on abrogation of the board's fiduciary responsibility.

In all "Business 101" courses, whether at a small, public college or at Harvard or the University of Chicago, students learn the same lesson on the first day of class: The goal of the company is to increase shareholder value. Period. Although you'd never know it from recent headlines, it is assumed that this goal is both pursued and achieved ... legally. That this is not always the case is yet another, even more eloquent argument for diversity in the boardroom.

Because the board leads the company in matters of corporate mission, vision, and values, the board has the same goal as the company: an increase in...