A principle isn’t a principle until it costs you something.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n -William Bernbach<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It was March, 2025.<\/p>\n On the eve of International Women’s Day, State Street Global Advisors, which manages some $2.5 trillion in assets, indicated its solidarity with the day’s demonstrators. The company installed a roughly 4.3 feet tall bronze statue of a defiant girl in front of Wall Street’s iconic charging-bull statue.<\/p>\n The reaction to the new statue, designed by artist Kristen Visbal, was immediate and powerful. The installation was part of a much broader campaign. “Fearless Girl,” as the statue was renamed, was part of State Street’s campaign to pressure companies to add more women to their boards. The firm followed up the installation with a letter to thousands of companies asking them to take action to increase the diversity on their boards.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Atlantic<\/em> magazine a few weeks after the installation<\/a>, Ron O’Hanley, a longtime investment management exec who became the CEO of State Street Global Advisors in 2015, said:<\/p>\n “In our mind, there is incontrovertible evidence about the benefits of diversity. We felt that we needed to be more categorical about that with companies. But we also tend to not like checklists. We like broad principles.”<\/em><\/p>\n When the permit allowing the statue to sit on city property expired, the artist argued that her sculpture was about much more than a company’s corporate ambitions. She spoke about the importance of equal pay for women, discussed the fight for women’s rights in developing countries such as Afghanistan and India, and made the pitch that the statue was a symbol of the global women’s movement.<\/p>\n There’s real irony to this.<\/p>\n In September 2025, several months after the statue went up, State Street agreed to pay five million dollars to settle claims by the U.S. Department of Labor that it had systematically discriminated against women and Black employees through unfair pay practices. A headline on CNN read, at the time, “Awkward! Company behind ‘Fearless Girl’ settles gender pay dispute.<\/em>” <\/p>\n Add to this State Street’s own record on gender diversity \u2014 their top executives are 82% men\u2026<\/p>\n Well, not a surprise, frankly.<\/p>\n State Street and the Fearless Girl’s story tells us a lot about the recent race for brands to adopt a brand purpose<\/a> and the real gap between what they say and the way they really act. <\/p>\n Also, it tells us a lot about how some brands consider their Diversity, Equality and Inclusion policy a Marketing tool, a mere PR technique, instead of a visible sign of standing for social justice and equality.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/QLTmea8KaMwW2iNS047f5j-Fu1GZWF1GlliIY4oj17-yitonSH5y9WoEaIPUxGEjgHMVU8P1oUI2iHkBNHtxeY_rCRzaTYrrSbfwg983s8ABKJVsfKm7qCpBCGUd1rZO3k0U6fvrH12TFAgw1P979A\")