“I think I am meant to be flattered,” Ms. Morrissey, a 48-year-old money manager, said recently in her office in the City, London’s historic financial district. “But I am doing my own thing.”
Like Ms. Sandberg, the Facebook executive, Ms. Morrissey has become the face of women’s advancement in business in her country. Four years ago, she founded the 30% Club, an organization that seeks to increase the representation of women on boards to that number.
But Ms. Morrissey has taken a rather different approach than Ms. Sandberg and others have.
Ms. Sandberg has implored women to assert themselves and find sponsors who can help advance their careers. And countries like Norway and France have mandated legal quotas for the percentage of women serving on boards.
Instead, Ms. Morrissey has directed her steely focus on Britain’s most powerful men.
Working behind the scenes, she has persuaded 120 of the country’s top chairmen that they want what she wants: more diverse boards that will produce better company returns.
The approach has produced some remarkable results. Since 2010, the percentage of women on Britain’s top boards has nearly doubled, to 23 percent, while in the United States, the figure has crept up a few percentage points to 17 percent.
“There is a spotlight and visibility there that is not present here,” says Brande Stellings, vice president for corporate board services at Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on increasing opportunities for women in the United States.
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“Don’t be too self-effacing,” he told the crowd, channeling Ms. Sandberg.
As often happens, Ms. Morrissey’s personal life attracted a bit of attention at the event. The headmaster of the school introduced Ms. Morrissey as the chief executive of Newton, the recipient of honors from Queen Elizabeth, and one of Bloomberg’s 50 most influential people in 2014.
When he said she also had nine children, the room erupted with gasps, followed by chatter and then a steady buzz of whispering.
“She has more children than most women in most jobs,” said Siobhan Lynch, 18, and a student at the school. “It provides hope in a way.”
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