industry focus
The gender agenda in today's new world norm
Consultant and former global director of security operations, environment and health and safety Tim Moore explores diversity and inclusion (D&I), inspiring the future of the industry and the security leaders of tomorrow.
For me, life after the corporate world is about building a new business order based upon inspiring risk teams around leadership in loss prevention/profit protection/risk.
After a long career in prominent risk roles, the challenge of consultancy is not crossing the Rubicon to the so-called ‘dark side’ but a means of taking my learnings – and as an academic, I’m still very much in learning mode – to deliver inspiration and results rather than prescriptive notions of what businesses should be doing.
This could be a combination of academic research – a business’s need to learn more about AI and become qualified in it, for example – or the desire to strive and thrive in global leadership roles. Those senior roles are now changing as acronyms such as ESG and D&I have become more dominant in the security sector’s language lexicon.
As a business academic it’s important to recognise the significant advantages of improving gender diversity at all levels of an organisation, particularly in regards to the success of women leaders in the early stages of their management career.
This can ultimately result in greater representation of women in leadership roles at the executive and C-suite level. In fact, a survey of Harvard Business School alumni revealed that 76 per cent of respondents believed that having more women in leadership positions would have a positive impact on the organisation's culture, while 85 per cent believed it would improve financial performance.
Furthermore, numerous studies have demonstrated that companies with higher percentages of women in leadership positions tend to perform better financially. For example, a Harvard Business Review study found that companies with the highest percentage of women on their boards outperformed those with the lowest percentage by 53 per cent in return on equity and 42 per cent in return on sales.
In addition, companies with more diverse leadership teams are more likely to exhibit higher levels of innovation and employee engagement, as well as better decision-making and problem-solving capabilities.
These findings suggest that promoting gender diversity in leadership positions can have significant benefits for organisations, including improved financial performance, better decision-making and a more inclusive and innovative organisational culture. As such, business academics should continue to emphasise the importance of gender diversity in leadership and advocate for its implementation across organisations.
In this dynamic and more complex security world women leaders have proven to be an invaluable asset bringing unique perspectives and approaches to the industry.
Diversity and inclusion are essential to one of the most critical sectors of the economy responsible for protecting people, profits and property because they are bringing a different set of experiences to the table which all adds to greater innovation and better decision-making.
I cite the example of three inspirational women who are successful leaders in the security industry and have gained insight into their personal journeys within this demanding field.
All work for Brooknight Security Ltd, an independent people-led security with service organisation based in Bletchley, near Milton Keynes.
Iula Adam, director of support services at Brooknight provided an example of how women can break through the glass ceiling to reach senior positions in the sector. She achieved this by rising through the ranks from the position of recruitment administrator in seven years. Similarly, Elena Badita’s rapid promotion from administrator to national communications centre manager in six years has been nothing short of phenomenal and testament to her dedication and passionate approach. Brooknight’s head of retail operations Hannah Collins has also experienced a rapid rise from sales development manager in line with the company’s culture of trust and collaboration.
A glass ceiling is there to be broken by such examples of women who are literally smashing it.
