Pavan Agarwal is the CEO of Sun West Mortgage Company and Celligence.
Hailing from Indian heritage, it was brilliant for me to see the country’s recent moon landing. What I found even more powerful was that more than 50 women were the driving force in the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Inside the financial services business, of which my company is part, women made up less than 25% of leadership roles in 2021, and progress is painfully slow. With this as the backdrop, I wanted to share my company’s experience with gender equality.
Let me demonstrate why there is a scientific reason gender equality provides a business advantage, in addition to the often-cited reasons. Let’s model human populations as particles: Diffusion consumes no energy, and there are researchers who are extracting energy from certain gradients, such as researchers at Pennsylvania State University who are studying how to “obtain energy from naturally occurring or engineered salinity gradients.” Analogously, I believe an organization can generate energy by allowing the natural diffusion of diverse people, as opposed to what many organizations presently do, which is expending energy by pushing against the gradient. Put simply: Hire and retain the best regardless of other factors.
Unconsciously, my company has been doing this; we have a board that is 75% women and a senior leadership team of more than 50% women. Many of these women are in India or are of Indian descent. I recently met with some of them and found four consistent themes:
1. They all had direct interactions with those above them since the beginning of their tenure. Communication was frequent and visible.
2. Ideas and suggestions were valued, which helped recognize workers’ potential and led to initiatives and decisions being made quickly.
3. They experienced merit-based performance. If the person could do the job, they were promoted and given a new title, increased compensation and the resources to succeed.
4. They saw leadership reflect this positive approach.
As my team works on building empathetic AI technology, I’m seeing firsthand that the leadership of women can help us deliver trusted solutions. Having diverse perspectives helps companies create a competitive advantage and win their very own race to the moon.
It’s important that leaders take steps to support these diverse perspectives in the workplace. I’ve observed that a barrier many women seem to face is the conditioning that they have gotten their entire life. Some might be taught not to expect too much; that they’ll never be recognized, no matter how hard they work; or to keep their heads down. For women in STEM, in particular, confidence and lack of mentorship can be major challenges, among others.
In my experience, most people are like a compressed spring. Because of this, I believe leaders need to coach, with their own style and charisma, and help team members release that contained energy. How? By guiding individuals and showing them they will be recognized, accepted and empowered without prejudice.
This takes a lot of time, effort and individualized attention. Having the proper themes, symbolism and mass messaging that are supportive of women and all employees present in your company culture can help. But, ultimately, I believe the best way forward is for leaders to invest their time in mentoring their people, either individually or in small groups.
Another critical component is making sure all of your employees know they have permission to fail. I am often asked how leaders can do this, and my response is simple: Pat them on the back, and reward them when they fail after a valiant effort. Reward them even more after they learn from the setback and succeed in the next challenge.
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