Hiring more female leaders is good for profits. Here’s the evidence

Now, researchers from Harvard Business School have zoomed in on one male-dominated industry – venture capital – and their findings show just how powerful hiring more women can be.

“The difference is dramatic,” HBS’s Paul Gompers and Silpa Kovvali wrote. “Along all dimensions measured, the more similar the investment partners, the lower their investments’ performance.”

Venture capital firms that increased their proportion of female partner hires by 10% saw, on average, a 1.5% spike in overall fund returns each year and had 9.7% more profitable exits, according to the research.