McDonald’s shows the way on diversity

“For young black or Asian kids starting out on business careers, there are few non-white business leaders to emulate,” he points out, looking at examples like Greggs, whose board comprises “nine middle-aged white males and one middle-aged white woman. Nothing wrong with this. But surely the Greggs estate is now peopled by managers of a spectrum of ethnicity… so why isn’t this replicated at the top?”

Across the Atlantic the make-up of boards is far more representative, he suggests, citing the example of McDonald’s—with “a black CEO in Don Thompson [pictured], a black top marketer in Kevin Newell and a Hispanic corporate executive in Jose Amario. That, unlike Gregg’s, is surely pretty emblematic of the McDonald’s estate.”

Reynolds suggests Thompson is a figurehead to every individual working for McDonald’s. “Here is proof positive there are no glass ceilings. Which is perhaps more than can be said for the bosses at Greggs.”

For the full story, see Greggs should take a lesson from McDonald’s in diversity.