4 Leadership Realities You Should Know

Dato' Ami Moris, the business and advisor at Maybank and chair of the 30% Club sustainability Malaysia, draws on more than 30 years of to reflect on the changing face of leadership

- Tania Jayatilaka

In June 2023, Malaysia became one of only four emerging markets worldwide to achieve more than 20 per cent female representation on the boards of its top 100 public-listed companies (PLCs). According to data from the Securities Commission of Malaysia, women held 30.6 per cent of board seats in the top 100 PLCs listed on Bursa Malaysia and nearly 25 per cent of seats in all PLCs.

It's a significant milestone, considering that in 2021, Bursa Malaysia required all PLCs to appoint at least one female board member by June 1, 2023. All this is meant to get closer to a tipping point (30 per cent, in this case) that researchers say is a necessary stepping stone towards achieving greater inclusion in the corporate world.

"Numerous studies have shown that companies with more diverse boards tend to outperform and are ahead on achieving their climate action goals. Investors are also scrutinising boards for their diversity," says Dato' Ami Moris, chair of the 30% Club Malaysia, an organisation geared towards helping more women attain board seats and other senior leadership positions in corporate Malaysia.

"Now that we've achieved the milestone that we refer to as the 30 per cent tipping point, [our goal is to ensure that there is 30 per cent female representation in every PLC, boardroom and also at C-suite levels. It's easy to just hit these numbers without having the real decision-makers at the table, but it's a start to set us on the path to gender parity, which means 50 per cent."

Moris says the implications extend beyond benefiting women to encompass the nation as a whole. Gender diversity is fundamental component towards achieving a larger goal, which is unlocking the potential of every individual. "That's what inclusion really is," she adds.