As I reflect on the evolution of the financial services industry over my 35-year career, one notable change is the inclusion of more female leadership at the top of the house. This is an encouraging observation to make as we celebrate Women’s History Month, but anyone familiar with the make-up of the typical financial services C-suite knows it’s premature to declare victory.

While I’m proud to lead the Nationwide Financial leadership team, a group that is evenly split along gender lines, female executives made up only about 22% of leadership roles within financial services industry in 2019. That’s not good enough—for two reasons:

The first is obvious—being inclusive is the right thing to do. A 3-1 ratio of male to female leaders doesn’t reflect the overall make-up of our workforce or customer base. That suggests that institutional gender barriers still exist in many financial services firms. Consumers, recruits and business partners are making decisions on who to work with based partly on a firm’s commitment to hiring and promoting a diverse workforce. Candidates are assessing companies to work for based on whether they can see themselves represented among that firm’s professionals and top leadership.

The second reason is even more important for any organization that wants to win. Lack of diversity is a missed opportunity to achieve better business results. The business case is clear: a diverse workforce brings richer perspectives, aids employee engagement and enhances a company’s performance. In my career, I’ve found that companies and leaders who hire smart and competitive people with different backgrounds and experiences, then challenge them to meet and exceed expectations, almost always create stronger, higher-performing teams.

You may wonder why a white male is writing a column about diversity in Women’s History Month. The truth is, most senior leaders in financial services are still white men, which means we carry a disproportionate responsibility to help enable change.

That’s why I’m asking my peers to join me in tackling this challenge together. I believe most leaders want to cultivate an inclusive culture, but they may not know where to start. In this article, I’ll share some steps I’ve taken to be an ally, sponsor and change agent in our industry in hopes of inspiring action from others in a position to make a difference.

Have A Process For Leadership Development
Hiring and promoting more women or minorities is not enough. You need to have a repeatable process in place to ensure they have an opportunity to develop as a leader. It’s important for them to show up within your own business and with important partners. Challenge them to be visible in the field, active in industry organizations and have a presence in social and industry media. This not only sets them up for success, it makes them visible to other ambitious young professionals. My hope is, when they see how Nationwide’s diverse leadership team shows up, they will not only aspire to emulate their success in our industry, but hopefully want to come to work at a company like ours.

Be An Ally
Being an ally or mentor is a great way to build relationships, drive inclusion, and ultimately boost business performance. Over the course of my career, I’ve found four rules of thumb that have helped me be a better ally and build stronger developmental relationships:

• Reach Out: Don’t wait for someone to come to you. Be proactive and intentional about identifying high-potential leaders and engage them. Skip-level conversations offer a great opportunity to begin the process. It’s part of your job as a leader to identify and develop top, diverse talent.

• Offer Opportunity: Make a conscious effort to give someone a chance to grow. Not everyone feels confident asking for more opportunity. I’ve found that people will almost always surprise you with their talent and drive if you give them a chance and expect them to be successful.

• Listen: Ask for and consider the perspectives of employees with different backgrounds and experiences. As a leader, I’m often asked for my thoughts and opinions. To be a good ally, you also need to listen. That means setting aside time to ask employees how they’re feeling and what they need to be successful. This is particularly useful when problem solving because when you listen to the perspectives of people from different backgrounds, they will help you identify more innovative solutions. The worst thing you can do is limit the input you receive only to people who look and think the same way you do.

• Learn: Use these interactions and viewpoints to inform not just their development, but your own as well. I’ve benefitted at least as much as the employees who I’ve worked with and mentored over the years. Following the recent social unrest of 2020, I gained invaluable perspectives by listening to Black colleagues and associates. This helped me realize there is even greater purpose in ensuring we are intentional about creating opportunities for more diversity in the financial services industry.

Be A Sponsor
Another great way to get involved is to look for existing groups in your organization, community or our industry that would value the sponsorship of a seasoned executive. 

When I became leader of Nationwide Financial, I reached out to colleagues to explore how I could support diverse associates in our company. We identified an opportunity for me to serve as executive sponsor of the Nationwide Latino Alliance, a group of Latinx associates that comes together to network, celebrate culture and support the community. My involvement with this group has taught me a lot about this important and growing segment of our associate and customer base.

Recently, I was proud to invite one of the group’s executive sponsors, J.J. Perez, to lead our Corporate Solutions team and join the Nationwide Financial leadership team. He’s already bringing exciting new perspectives to the table and adding tremendous value to the team. 

Think Beyond Your Own Organization
Don’t limit your thinking. The challenges we face are rooted in issues that span our entire culture. You may be perfectly positioned to drive change in more than just your own company.

In the aftermath of last year’s social justice protests, I asked my leaders to help me reflect on how we could respond as an organization. The conversation quickly evolved to some of the barriers to diversity in our industry, which we soon realized are contributing factors to the wealth gap in our country.

Nationwide Retirement Institute research showed that nearly 90% of Black college students considering a financial services career report they believe there are challenges that specifically affect Black advisors and financial professionals in the industry today. This sentiment is echoed by current Black advisors and financial professionals, indicating a clear barrier for our diversity pipeline (Source: Nationwide RISE research 2018).

We knew this was too big of an issue to address on our own. Kristi Rodriguez, who sits on my leadership team as head of the Nationwide Retirement Institute, stepped up to lead the creation of the Financial Alliance for Racial Equity (FARE). Her team spearheaded the creation of a coalition of leading financial services organizations and associations, including Morgan Stanley, M Financial Group, NFP, Employee Benefit Research Institute and Huntington, in partnership with six Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including Hampton University, Howard University, Lincoln University, Virginia State University, Virginia Union University and Winston-Salem State University.

This group is working together to develop an industry-wide strategy, focusing on efforts to recruit more diverse students to the profession, invest in young professionals with high potential and position them for leadership roles in the future.

Milestones like Women’s History month are a great time to reflect on where your organization is on its journey. But being an Ally and leading change must remain an ongoing priority throughout the year. While I see more diverse leaders than ever at Nationwide and across the industry, we still have a long way to go. That’s why it’s more important than ever for leaders to work with their HR and DEI partners to ensure you have the right plan of action.

I know I’m not the only leader who cares about this issue, and I applaud those who are actively making a difference. For those who feel they can’t afford to take their eye off business results, I say you can’t afford not to leverage the power of inclusion in your organization because I’ve seen firsthand how it creates higher performance leading to better business outcomes.

John Carter is president and COO of Nationwide Financial.