• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Footnote

Footnote.co

Showcasing research with the power to change our world

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Footnote
  • About
  • Contributors
  • Partner With Us
  • Press
  • Projects
  • Academia
  • Business
  • Education
  • Government
  • Health
  • International
  • Science
  • Society
  • Technology
CEO Political Ideology

What a Lack of Political Diversity Does to Corporate Leadership Teams

Matthew Semadeni, Arizona State UniversityJuly 13, 2021November 17, 2021
executives
Sections
  • Business
Topics
  • American Politics
  • Corporate Leadership
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Diversity

Corporate leadership teams are often composed of people with the same political ideology. A 2015 survey of 1,000 board members at U.S. companies found that they disproportionately leaned Republican. In some market sectors, like industrials and utilities, as few as 15% of board members identified as Democrats, compared to 49% of the U.S. population. In sectors like consumer goods, on the other hand, leadership teams lean liberal.

Neither situation is healthy for business. Why? Executive teams that consist only of conservative or liberal members are susceptible to the same type of “groupthink” that can result with all-male or all-white leadership teams.

Read the full article at Quartz.

This article was produced by Footnote in partnership with WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Related

  1. Gender equality
    Small Wins Can Make A Big Impact On Gender Equality
  2. Person walks past Black Lives Matter banner
    As Companies Try To Address Racism, A Generic Response Is No Longer Enough
  3. Forklift moving medical supplies to fight coronavirus
    What CEOs Need To Know As U.S. Industry Rallies To Fight Coronavirus

sidebar

Contributed by

Matthew Semadeni

Matthew Semadeni

Professor of Strategy, Department of Management, W. P. Carey School of Business
Arizona State University

Matthew Semadeni is a Professor of Strategy and a Dean’s Council Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Management in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Prior to coming to ASU, he was on the faculty of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses on competitive strategy, corporate strategy, knowledge, and top management teams.

Footer

About Footnote

Footnote is an online media company that increases the impact of academic knowledge by making it accessible and engaging for new audiences.

Learn more about Footnote and our contributors.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Partner with us to increase the impact of your research.

Sections

  • Academia
  • Business
  • Education
  • Government
  • Health
  • International
  • Science
  • Society
  • Technology

Projects

  • Babson College
  • The Collaborative
  • Genomic Medicine
  • Making Research Reliable
  • Robotics
  • Works Cited Podcast

© 2025 Footnote