Transformation through diversity
Why sign the CEO Pledge?
Signing a public pledge brings accountability to your organisation and shows that you take DEI issues seriously. To date, over 50 industry CEOs have signed this pledge.
CEOs from non-LEAD Network Partner companies are also invited to sign.
A
Ahold Delhaize
Ahold Delhaize Europe & Indonesia
Asahi Europe & International
Asahi – Dreher Breweries
Asahi – Birra Peroni
Asahi – Grolsch and Asahi France
Asahi – UK
Asda
Avon
Bel Group
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP)
Costco Wholesale
Criteo
Essity
EY
General Mills
Ingredion
Innocent Drinks
Kimberly-Clark
Kraft Heinz
B
Beiersdorf
C
CHEP
D
Danone
E
Ecolab
G
GB Foods
H
Henkel
I
ICA
K
Kellanova
L
Lidl Bulgaria
L’Occitane
M
Metro
Migros Ticaret
Morrisons
MSD
Musgrave
N
Nestlé
Newton
Nielsen Media
NielsonIQ
O
Ozay Lay Firm
P
PA Consulting
PepsiCo
Prestige 96
S
Sinfo One
Solenis
Sonae
SSP
T
TCC Global
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling
The Coca-Cola İçecek A.Ş. (ICCI)
U
Unilever
V
Vertical Advantage
FAQs
The Pledge was conceived by Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize, at the LEAD Network Annual Conference 2017 in Amsterdam. A small working group drafted the text and presented it for approval by the CEOs participating in the 2017 CEO Roundtable. The Pledge is “by CEOs, for CEOs”.
Signing a public pledge brings accountability to your organisation. In fact, LEAD Network Pledge signatories move the needle on gender parity equity and farther than non-signatories:
No. The Pledge is a collective commitment by CEOs across our industry, and as such, the text is consistent for all signatories. LEAD Network will provide a Word template so you can add the name and title of your signatory, company and date. You may add your logo.
- The CEO or the President Europe/Regional President can sign the Pledge.
- Some CEOs are joined by a co-signatory, for example the CHRO or the Global Head of DEI.
- We know of two instances where CEOs asked their Country Managers to sign in addition to them to drive accountability deeper into the organisation.
The Pledge is a collective commitment by CEOs across our industry, and your signature will demonstrate your commitment to sharing best practices and helping other organisations to move gender equity forward, faster, creating more opportunities for all women to advance.
Yes. LEAD Network will remind you when your signature comes up for renewal every three years. The renewal shows continued commitment until our industry as a whole (not just your company) reaches 50/50.
The Pledge is a ‘balanced scorecard’ of qualitative actions and quantitative metrics. LEAD Network measures representation within our industry, and we have created the quantitative industry-wide target to foster a sense of shared accountability with CEOs. This enables you and your company to strive for a goal that not only stretches your company, but enables broader, industry-wide change.
The position of LEAD Network is that the Pledge is a personal commitment from the CEO towards their organisation and our industry as a whole. LEAD Network will not ask whether targets are met or ask for results. We do, however, have an initiative called the Gender Diversity Scorecard where companies voluntarily share their data. This enables us to measure our industry-wide progress. While we publicise general industry results, we do not share company-specific numbers.
We welcome your participation in that important initiative, which drives real change. We are also supportive of you sharing the practices your company has implemented to drive DEI results and, if you are proud of your organisation’s quantitative results and wish to publicise them, LEAD Network will support publication on its media channels.
The language of the Pledge provides a common terminology to participants of the CEO Roundtable. It helps share a set of common qualitative actions and quantitative measures. The more CEOs sign, the broader the use of the same definitions.
All dates are good. International Women’s Day on the 8th of March is a popular date. Another good date is during or around the LEAD Network Annual Conference, which typically occurs in October.
A PDF of the signed Pledge; a photo capturing the signing ceremony and a short statement from the CEO on why the Pledge is important.
Before signing the Pledge:
- Share it with your Executive/Leadership team, ask them to process what’s included, and engage in dialogue with them about what this will mean to your organisation.
- Encourage (or require) your direct team to share the Pledge with their teams and adopt the actions within.
After signing the Pledge:
- Make it known internally with your broader organisation via an all-hands/town hall or company-wide e-mail. Explain what the Pledge means to you, and what it means to take the actions included within.
- Publicise the Pledge by sharing photos of your signing ceremony on social media channels and incorporating the Pledge in your annual report so that your customers, shareholders and other stakeholders see that you take this issue seriously.
- Report on the progress you and your team are making against the Pledge actions. Be transparent, open, and unafraid to say you can do more/be better. Don’t shy away from communicating concrete qualitative actions you are taking if you aren’t ready to share numeric progress – in fact, many employees will find this refreshing.
- Encourage your CEO peers in our industry to sign the Pledge and hold each other accountable for making change and leading progress.
Previously, we asked companies to commit to a 5% increase toward gender equity over three years. While some companies have reached this equity goal already, and others are progressing towards it, we believe a “general” goal percentage does not capture the individual company nuances. Also, coupling this with legislation tensions between the US and Europe for global companies, the original Pledge made it difficult for some companies to sign. We shifted our focus to the commitment of actions that truly drive the change we want to see and on creating a collective movement towards gender equity and inclusion in the CPG and Retail industry.