Gender, ethnic and racial diversity among corporate leaders can correlate to better earnings, according to a report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Working in a diverse environment means “you make very few assumptions about … the extent to which others will agree with you,” says Evan Apfelbaum, who studies workplace diversity issues at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “And so it produces this kind of more rigorous, comprehensive decision-making outcomes,” says Apfelbaum.

But Shirley Davis Sheppard, who leads diversity efforts at several major companies, says while it is seen as a worthy goal, “when it comes down to the budget … and getting senior executive commitment, that’s where you start to find a little bit more of the challenge,” because diversity initiatives can take a long time to show dividends.