Nontraditional CEOs and Their Influence as It Relates to Diversity on Mission Statements

Almost universally, diversity is considered a good thing in organizations. Mission Statements are considered the ultimate schematic of an organization’s present and future. In light of these two factors, this paper analyzes whether diverse — non-traditional CEOs make an appreciable difference in terms of adding diversity to their corporate Mission Statements. This research paper analyzes the Mission Statements of Fortune 500 corporations that had non-traditional CEOs during years 2010-2011 in terms of diversity during (i) the year prior to becoming CEO, (ii) the year in which the CEO officially took charge and (iii) the year after the CEO’s official selection. My analysis shows that there were no appreciable differences in terms of reference to diversity in Mission Statements when a non-traditional CEO was chosen to lead selected Fortune 500 companies in the United States