Aon is the world's leading global risk, reinsurance and human capital services firm.

Revisiting our 2006 interview with Greg Case [Read the 2006 interview below], we hear what Aon is doing to promote talent worldwide. We also talk with David Speer at ITW, who is working to increase diversity among his 825 operating units. Both feel that the more diversity there is - and the broader the range of perspectives you bring to the table - the more successful your business will be.

How has your company benefited from having women in corporate leadership roles?

Aon has benefited greatly. Christa Davies has served exceptionally as CFO since March 2008. She helped our firm complete our exodus from the underwriting business. She is successfully executing our share buyback program, and she is driving enhancements throughout our global financial network. As CEO of Aon Consulting, Kathryn Hayley is leading the charge to create the world's leading human capital consulting firm, in large part with industry - leading margins. Aon also has women in leadership positions throughout our global brokerage community who are delivering tremendous value to our clients and to our company.

Our effort is all about best talent and best capability. It's inconceivable you could achieve this without a broad - based group of leaders. We're committed to "building the best, hiring the best and being the best." We have regional diversity teams around the world designed to support our diversity initiatives. And it's paying off by the fact that for the second year in a row Aon has received a perfect 100 ranking on the Corporate Equality Index issued by the Human Rights Council.

What single strategy - or strategies - have you found to be most successful in advancing women to senior roles and tapping their contributions?

We've developed a systematic strategy to identify high potential colleagues who will be future leaders of Aon and do what we can do to be supportive. There isn't one strategy, but a highly tailored set of discussions. The real action happens at the individual level. And, let's be clear: this is how it works for everybody. This is not about doing special things for women. While apprenticeship profiles may differ for women, men and minorities, our job is to create as many 'traditional' paths as possible. For women, we have a development plan that builds in options to pursue a traditional or a very different path. We want to make as many paths 'traditional' as possible to keep high-caliber people in our firm.

We believe in being the destination of choice for the best talent, and we are constantly identifying those who we believe can add value for our clients and for the firm. The challenge for a firm like Aon that believes in diversity is finding those candidates who share our values about commitment to client service.

What advice do you have for women who are trying to advance? What advice do you have for men who make these decisions?

I don't position myself as an expert or Aon as perfect. My advice for women is the same as it is for men: be a leader, be solutions - focused and trust that our organization will help you develop options so that you can thrive. The same formula gets played out in very different ways for men and minorities. We also insist that women help us build development paths that can be applied to specific needs.

We've worked very hard on three guiding principles - delivering distinctive value to clients, improving operational effectiveness and being the destination of choice for the world's best talent. We've also worked very hard to develop the Aon leadership model - five attributes that we believe best define leadership: client leadership, entrepreneurship, teamwork and collaboration, fiscal responsibility and living our values. It's that prism that is quite effective when you think about development profiles for women, minorities and white males. It works across the board. The fact that we have something in place provides a great foundation that enables us to identify, recruit and develop the best performing women in the world.

Aon Corporation is a $10 billion provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting and specialty insurance underwriting.

Why is it important to have more women in leadership roles?

As a professional services firm, what really matters to our clients, to our colleagues, is talent. Given that principle, it's absolutely incumbent upon us to have women well - represented across every aspect of our firm - at the entry level through middle leadership to the most senior level. It's critical to how we shape our future and how we serve clients. If we're going to win from a talent standpoint, we have to have a diverse group of people. At the most senior levels, we want to attract talent and we can't do that unless people can see that we have talented women at the top.

What do you see as the biggest challenge to increasing the number of women on boards and in senior management? What additional barriers exist for women of color?

You have to create opportunities. It's not about one size fits all. You have to have tailored development paths for women. Sometimes the decisions are difficult because the individuals are different - different life experience and demands outside of the workplace. It's a program vs. an individual mentality. When organizations say they want to have a program of diversity, or women's development, we don't find that very helpful. We're looking for a set of individuals who are resolute in finding and developing the best talent. For the most talented women, we find they have a high degree of dislike for being part of a "program." It's more about "give me the opportunity and help me develop in the best possible way." It sounds fairly simple but we find it an effective way to execute. I've worked with women of color who bring very distinctive backgrounds to the job and are positioned really well. I've also worked with others who have incredible talent, but were brought into the organization in a less successful way, without the support of formal and informal networks. It's the same scenario that women across the board encounter. The organization needs to proactively address ways to help these individuals be successful.

What advice do you have for women who are trying to advance? What advice do you have for men who make these decisions?

Come in, focus on the business and have an impact. That's not about diversity, not about being a woman; it's about making a difference. Remember, it's a network of colleagues who are trying to work together to get something done. And, if mentors among your colleagues aren't readily available, find them. Have a view on what you want to accomplish long term and get colleagues to help you. You have to pursue both formal and informal networks. Take full advantage of the formal networks that are in place, but when you're done with that, you're halfway through. You must create the informal ones yourself. Otherwise, you won't be able to get where you need to go.

For men making these decisions, they have to understand the importance of diversity and have as much or more passion, about trying to do this on an individual basis. If not, smart women will see through it in about two seconds, just as smart men will. If you want to win in the talent game, you've got to approach this on an individual level and with a level of empathy for women that has, historically, been there for men. In the end, women will succeed at firms when the group comes together and men help women succeed. Those who do this well will succeed, those who don't, won't.