Increasingly, research being carried out in the US and UK shows that where board members reflect diversity of thought as well as race and gender, businesses have performed better in terms of their profitability and return of shareholder value. So says Heather Rabbatts CBE, emphasising the benefits of inclusion policies. “In a globalised business, if you ignore 50% of the population in terms of talent, and are drawing from a very narrow cultural range, you are not going to make the best business decisions,” she warns. Elsewhere in the journal, the theme of the issue is dilapidations, with highlights of the RICS Dilapidations Forum Conference and a discussion of best practice in bringing a claim using the Civil Procedures Rules. Assessing value in contract breaches and an overview of recent dilapidations rulings are also covered.