Avsnitt
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Shownotes
On The Elephant in the Room podcast it has been my endeavour to spotlight leaders from the global majority. I recently had the privilege to speak with Taisha Nurse, Global Senior Director, Diversity Equity and Inclusion at McDermott. As a senior HR practitioner she has been responsible for building Centre’s of Excellence across multiple geographies before moving to her current role in 2020. A role she loves the most and believes that her various experiences have prepared her to navigate the web of challenges and opportunities she faces in the course of her work.
The focus of the conversation was on an industry well known for its lack of diversity, and to her her views a female leader on all things DEIB/A. We covered many interesting topics including
👉🏾 The challenges to finding success in her DEIB/A role in an industry that isn’t traditionally recognised for gender diversity
👉🏾 Cultural intelligence and steps to building an inclusive culture (one culture) in a global organisation
👉🏾 The role of managers and leaders in building safe work spaces
👉🏾 Her definition of leadership
👉🏾 Measurement and evaluation of DEIB/A efforts in an organisation
I name checked @Pamay Bassey when Taisha spoke about being a learner for life❤️❤️
“It's probably my most favourite job in my 20 plus years is it definitely keeps me on my toes, but it allows me to stay in the sphere of being a learner for life. Every day, I'll have a conversation, I'll read something. I'll have an experience. And I think, wow, I didn't see it from that perspective. And so it's really putting me in a very open mindset. Even though I sometimes resist it, I want to be kind of in my comfort zone, but it puts me in this open mindset to see the world through someone else's eyes, when I'm thinking of a strategy, a campaign, the training that's required, being able to sit and think, okay, this is the audience, how are they going to receive it?”
To listen to the episode, head to comments for Links 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Thank you, Taisha, for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today. Wonderful to have you here.
Taisha: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm looking forward to today's dialogue with you.
Sudha: Brilliant. So to start with give us a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Taisha: So my name is Taisha Nurse.
I am currently the global senior director of diversity and inclusion at McDermott. McDermott is a global engineering procurement construction and installation organisation. So we're in energy, let's say. But my background is I have over 25 years of HR experience. I am an American born, so I started my work experience in the US. However, only worked in the US for two years, I then transferred to London, still in investment banking. I've worked in the Caribbean in telecommunications and now at McDermott in energy for the last 10 years. I've worked across most of the centres of excellences in HR. So mobility, HRAS, compensation and benefits, recruitment, and also worked as an HR generalist.
So the scope of my HR experience is quite broad, but I would probably say I'm
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Shownotes:
People recruit people from the industry, but also people who look like them, behave like them, are from a similar background, use a similar language... Would you agree?
If this is the reality, the question is how important is inclusive recruitment for the PR industry or businesses in general? And what does 'inclusive' recruitment actually mean? What can organisations do to break the cycle of systemic exclusion and homophiliy? Move from being performative to truley transformative??
Rohan Shah, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Ruben Sinclair, and I had an interesting conversation about all things inclusive recruitment and more. We also spoke about 👇🏾
👉🏾 The role of technology/Data in creating fairer and more inclusive recruitment processes
👉🏾 Inclusive job adverts, structured job interviews, pre-determined questions and clear evaluation critera
👉🏾 Ensuring candidates are evaluated on the basis of skill sets and competencies rather than personal information
👉🏾 Back to work, future of work
👉🏾 The Elephant in the room for the recruitment industry - that leaders don't really get involved with the recruitment process
👉🏾 His belief that to have a truly inclusive recruitment process, a company's employee value proposition (EVP) should allow for radical flexibility. What does radical flexibility mean?
"I think it's easy enough to have people acknowledge the importance of, strategic and inclusive approach to recruitment, but it can seem very difficult to actually get people to actually, genuinely adopt it. I think that's more so because when they realise the work, the time, but also the cost associated with it. You can slowly see this barrier going up between sort of saying it's important and actually doing something about it. Do people understand the importance? Yes, Are they always adopting it on the whole, I don't think they are, and if they do adopt it, do they generally get a specialist in to help them? I don't think that's always the case."
Rohan Shah
Head to the podcast to listen 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Good morning, Rohan. Wonderful to meet you again after a couple of weeks
Rohan: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it, Sudha.
Sudha: So let's start with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Rohan: Sure. Okay. So I'm Rohan, I'm responsible along with my business partner for the overall growth and direction of Reuben Sinclair, which is your traditional recruitment consultancy. But also RS Engage, which is very much a HR and talent management consultancy on the recruitment agency side. We have a vision to introduce exceptional PR, marketing sales and digital professionals to businesses around the world, whilst also changing that sort of traditional recruitment practice.
And on the RS engage side we have specialist HR consultants go out and advise small to medium enterprises on their HR practices, but also put in place specific practical work for them, but also help a number of global clients transform their talent acquisition and sort of retention strategies with a particular focus on inclusive and accessible recruitment.
Sudha: That's interesting. So how did you get into recruitment?...
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Shownotes
The Elephant in the Room podcast was in hibernation in December and January. We are back this week with our first episode of the year with the indomitable Ritika Wadhwa. Ritika Wadhwa is a strategic advisory board member for British Transport Police, is a Fellow at the Society of Leadership Fellows, Windsor Castle, a Board Director and Trustee of the 5% club. But, above all of that she is an accomplished, kind and hugely generous person - opening up her networks to all who need it (including me). There is a beautiful story behind the name of her consultancy Prabhaav Global and also her brand colours (listen to the podcast to know more).
She is one of the many people I follow on LinkedIn and early last year I invited her to be a guest on my podcast. By the time we actually recorded the podcast episode it was October (I think) - the timing was perfect though. She had taken a proverbial leap of faith and launched her consultancy Prabhaav Global - on a mission to cultivate cultural intelligence amongst individuals and organisations. When we finally caught up we spoke about cultural intelligence, her journey to entrepreneurship, working with a global brand like ASOS, intent and impact, culture and identity, leadership and much much more……
“When I decided to call it Prabhaav Global, a lot of people were giving me their feedback to say, why make it difficult? And I said, difficult for who? Because Prabhaav speaks to me. Prabhav means impact in Hindi. And that’s what I want to do. That’s me, that’s my identity. That’s my language. And I’m done with fitting in. I’m done with trying to be someone I’m not yet again. So I said, that’s it. I’m going to call it Prabhaav Global. The colours of the company are going to be turmeric because I love yellow. It’s my favourite spice and turmeric is the spice that transforms everything that it touches, thats I want to achieve through Prabhaav Global, transformational leadership, transformational behaviours” Ritika Wadhwa
Like to know more, head to the podcast 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Episode transcript
Sudha: Good afternoon, Ritika. Wonderful to have you as a guest today on The Elephant in the Room podcast. Thank you for being here.
Ritika: You’re most welcome. Thank you for having me, Sudha. This has been something that I have been excited to be on for a while.
Sudha: Yeah, we’ve been planning this for some time. So to start with can you give us a quick introduction to who you are and what you do?
Ritika: Sure. So I am Ritika Wadhwa. I am the CEO and founder of Prabhaav Global. Prabhaav means impact in Hindi and that’s what I’m here for, impact, impactful work and using the transformative power of cultural intelligence for impactful leadership.
Besides that, I also sit on the strategic advisory board of British Transport Police. I’m a leadership fellow at Windsor Castle and also a trustee at the 5 percent Club. All of this to say that really grateful to be here on this conversation with you talking about everything that we’re going to talk about and I’m excited about that.
Sudha: Brilliant. So how and when did you decide to focus on cultural intelligence? Was it, a natural pathway to the work that you were doing because I’ve seen you’ve had varied experience or did you just wander into it, you know, and you were good at it.
Ritika: Oh, I don’t know about good. It’s definitely been a journey.
So I was born and...
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Shownotes:
I talk a lot about women, mothers/carers, mid-career professionals, and leadership. Of course, these are intersecting identities that coalesce at different points in life to create additional barriers for working women. We are not even talking about race, disability, ethnicity, ageism etc. And I talk about these issues because I was squeezed out of what I thought should have been a fulfilling career. What happened to me, does not have to happen to others, and so the aspiration is to get women to understand where the barriers may lie and be more intentional about their journey. For my part, would it have helped if there were more women in leadership at the time, women for whom their careers were as important as their personal lives? I definitely think so.
I wish I had known a lot of the women, I know now - at that time. Amongst those who have been an inspiration for me in my second innings as the founder of a purpose led consultancy are Nicky Regazzoni and Georgina Blizzard 👩💻 of The PR Network. So, I was delighted when they agreed to be guests on The Elephant in the Room podcast.
Both, Nicky and George are trail blazers championing flexible, remote working and job shares when they set up The PR Network 18 years ago. That The PR Network is a B-Corp and thriving says something about the model (family first) - that it works. At a time when women are still struggling to find support and balance or make it to leadership positions - The PR Network is a testament to their belief in the model. In the world we inhabit today (back to controlling location and time), we definitely need more role models and allies who have the bravery and imagination to do things differently - if we want women to thrive.
Massive congratulations to both Georgina Blizzard 👩💻 and Nicky Regazzoni, for winning the inaugural Global Women in Public Relations and International Communications Consultancy Organisation Angela Oakes Award. For those who don’t know, the award recognises those who have smashed glass ceilings and changed the game for empowering female leadership, making a significant contribution to improving the landscape for women working in PR.
Their 18 year journey has been a journey of learning but also inspiring to say the least. Head to the podcast to hear Georgina Blizzard 👩💻 and Nicky Regazzoni talk about values, purpose, creating...
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Shownotes:
A couple of months back I spoke with Marcia La Rose, Group People and Diversity Director, Four Agency Worldwide. Her story is uplifting - she has been at the agency for over 2 decades with over a decade in leadership roles and has been heavily involved in the agency’s acquisition of B-Corp status.
In our freewheeling conversation we spoke about her journey as a woman leader from the global majority, her learnings from the journey. We also spoke about👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 How the role of HR has transformed in the past couple of years, and the biggest challenges and opportunities
👉🏾 Post COVID workplace, the future of work for our industry - if remote/hybrid working is done for or here to stay
👉🏾 Her views on whether HR should drive purpose and culture in an organisation
👉🏾 Inclusive/equitable culture and steps to creating it
👉🏾 The importance of goal setting and measurement for culture change programme
👉🏾 What the industry can do to increase representation of the global majority in the C-Suite/Leadership teams
We also spoke about what the Elephant in the room is for her and much, more. I cannot thank Marcia enough for her generosity in making time from her busy schedule for this conversation.
To listen more, head to the podcast in the link below:
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Good morning, Marcia. Wonderful to have you on The Elephant in the Room podcast today. I am tuning in from Gurgaon, India. So it's afternoon here.
Marcia: Great stuff. Brilliant. I'm in London, so it's morning here.
Sudha: So to get started, give us a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Marcia: Okay, so I'm Marcia LaRose. I am the head of HR at Four Agency Worldwide. I've been at Four for 20 years now. I am actually an accountant, so when I joined Four I was their accountant. Oh, well I was the whole finance team. And the company was very small then maybe 15 employees. So at that point, it was quite manageable to look after suppliers and clients and paying staff and the like, so that was all absolutely fine, but as the business grew, it was found that I had particularly good people skills by others, I must add.
Marcia: And so I moved into HR, and I've been in HR probably now for about... 12 or 15 years, and I still look after a lot of things to do with money. So I work really closely with the group finance director, and I still look after the salaries and tax issues, student loan issues, those sorts of things. Aside from that I was heavily involved in Four acquiring its B Corp status and I actively work to ensure we are continually improving on that. And separately again, I am a fellow at the PRCA and I am an immigration advisor at the Home Office. So that's what I do.
Sudha: Oh my God. Wow. You definitely have your plate full.
Marcia: Yeah. I like to be busy. Keeps me out of trouble, I think. Yeah.
Sudha: So as a woman leader from the global majority, how easy or difficult has career progression been for you? From the sound of it, it looks like you, managed to find some good people along the way, or?
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Shownotes
I recently spoke with Kirsty Leighton Founder and Managing Partner of award winning consultancy Milk & Honey PR, the highest scoring B Corp global communications agency in the world. As someone who speaks so much about purpose, it is always a great learning opportunity for me to engage with people/founders who believe in the power of purpose.
In this freewheeling chat with Kirsty Leighton we spoke about the meaning of purpose and how it manifests itself in business conduct, engagement with stakeholders and sustainable practices. We also spoke about bravery, setting up a business in her mid-40s, building an agency that behaved differently 👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 The Elephant in the Room for the industry - poor diversity and social mobility
👉🏾 Addressing challenges facing the industry including the disruptions around new technology, upskilling the talent pool and also changing the traditional agency model
👉🏾 What comms professionals can do to maintain their seat at the table
👉🏾 The drivers for transitioning from LLP to an employee ownership trust
👉🏾 B-Corp certification, as a path to betterment, external validation and respect
👉🏾 What leaders are doing to prepare for the future of work - including dealing with hybrid, new technology, mental health, work life balance etc….
And much more.
Link to the podcast episode in comments 👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Good afternoon, Kirsty. Thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today.
Kirsty: Lovely to be invited. Thank you so much.
Sudha: Okay, so let's jump right in. Give us a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Kirsty: So my name is Kirsty Leighton. I am the founder and I've given myself the very exalted title of Group CEO of Milk and Honey PR. An organisation that I set up six and a half years ago. So six and a half years ago, with just me, with my almost 30 years experience now we've been able to grow that from just me in six years to now 50 people in three continents and four offices.
Sudha: Wow. That's amazing. So when and why did you decide to launch your own consultancy? Did you have an aha moment? I know that women are fairly risk averse and often when they take that first step, it's because they're not satisfied with what is happening in the workplace, or there's some sense of dissatisfaction.
Kirsty: Well, that was absolutely the case. I was incredibly fortunate that in the last 25 years prior to starting Milk and Honey, I had worked for some amazing, always PR agencies. So I'd always been on the agency side. And I'd learned an awful lot during that time. I got the opportunity to work in lots of different types of PR, but what I found is that sometimes the intention of what an organisation's policy was looking to achieve was perhaps slightly missed in practice.
Kirsty: And there was just these little niggly bits where I could see what the intention was, but the practical delivery wasn't quite delivering it. So my last role, which was at Hudson Sandler before I'd set up Milk and Honey, they were actually coming out, they were doing a management buyout from Huntsworth, and I just thought actually, do you know what? Do I really want to wed my future to this organisation as brilliant as it was? I was there as MD for five years and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought, actually, do you know what now is the time, if I'm going to do something on my own, to do it.
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SHOWNOTES:
How does context help up define and be comfortable with who we are?
In a recent conversation with Akin Thomas we spoke the role of context and how it helps us define our identity. We also spoke about his entrepreneurial streak, how the Johnson and Johnson credo inspired him to define it for his business. In this very thought provoking and sometimes difficult conversation we also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 Organisational consciousness - the sweet spot, where an organisation’s intention and impact goes beyond their need
👉🏾 Leadership - as an energy and force for change and the need for leaders to have long term vision as opposed to a tactical approach
👉🏾 His optimism about progress on DEI in the UK, and belief that senior leaders are more authentic and genuine than ever before about the desire for change. The recognition of the existing fear (resistance to change) within active resistors
👉🏾 #Tell your story project that was commissioned by UK Sport, Sport England, Sport Wales, Sport Northern and Sport Scotland to research Race and Racism in Sport
👉🏾 The terrible reality that there are more alternative structures in sports now than in the 1950s when our forefathers came to the country.
👉🏾 That nobody, absolutely nobody feels that it is worth investing in the cost of discrimination, the cost of belittling people, the cost of crushing people’s lives.
👉🏾 His advice to organisations seeking to be more authentic ‘stop looking at what others are doing, look within and get a real sense of what it means to you as an organisation.
If you would like to listen more, head to the podcast….👇🏾👇🏾
“And if you don't have context, it's very easy to be pulled in so many different directions. So as a child, I grew up in a place called xxxxxxxx, which was the largest council estate in Europe. I was one of very few black kids. I was the only black kid that went to school from 5 to 16. I didn't see anybody else other than myself. And I was void of context because I was fostered from six weeks old. And therefore I am this black child in the middle of this extremely white space. I knew I was different. I felt different. I didn't get a sense of belonging, but I didn't know what the context was because I just knew I was not within the right context.”
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Sudha: Good afternoon, Akin. Thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today.
Akin: Yeah. Hi, how you doing?
Sudha: I'm fine. Thank you. Okay. Let's get started with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Akin: Okay. So my name is Akin Thomas. I am the founder and CEO of AKD Solutions. We are an organisation of change consultancy.
Akin: So we focus on three areas of business, which is research, learning and development, which is our core and consultancy services. We have evolved over the years and I've gone from a local brand to an international brand and the planet's become our global brand.
Sudha: That's amazing. So have you always been entrepreneurial? And what made you get on that journey?
Akin: Okay. I think the answer is, it was there. I used to...
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Shownotes
A while ago I invited Samantha Ndiwalana, a Senior Researcher at World Benchmarking Alliance to talk about the pivotal role of the private sector in meeting the SDGs. The WBA maps 2000 of the worlds most influential companies. The influence is staggering, the companies have over $36.5 trillion in revenue and employ more than 97 million people across 85 countries.
How are these companies identified? It starts with looking at the seven transformations needed to meet UN SDGs: Social, Food and Agriculture, Decarbonisation and Energy, Nature, Digital, Urban and Financial. The WBA then go on to identify the 2000 keystone companies within these industries based on 5 principles that goes beyond just size and also looks at impact and influence
It is a tall order to challenging the prevailing bias that leading companies are based only in Western countries or the global north to ensure that the right companies are included in that list. Samantha and I discussed this and more in our conversation
👉🏾 Why is there less representation from the global south? Is it because we equate size with influence
👉🏾 Engaging with the power and influence of state owned entities
👉🏾 We discussed a recent report that spoke about ‘emerging markets have longer runaway and steeper slope for SDG improvement’ (according to an American PE firm)?
👉🏾 The big emerging challenge: the sustainability information gap
👉🏾 The reality that companies from developing markets generally receive limited funding to support SDG focused investments
👉🏾 Are companies from developing countries less sustainable or is it a measurement issue?
We also discussed why achieving SDGs in emerging markets is set to become more important going forward - it is fairly straightforward actually………..
To listen to the episode head to the link in the comments 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Good morning Samantha. Thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the room Podcast today.
Samantha: Good morning, Sudha. It's great to be here. Thank you for having me.
Sudha: Let's just get started with the questions. Give us a quick introduction to who you are and what you do at the WBA.
Samantha: Yes, gladly.
Samantha: So I work as a senior researcher and company engagement lead at the WBA. My focuses are digital inclusion and that's looking at some of the world's most influential tech companies, how well, or maybe not so well they're doing in terms of making sure technology is ethical, fair, safe, sustainable for everyone.
My other focus is the SDG 2000, and we'll speak a bit about that today. And that is the universe of companies that we look at, at the WBA. So, managing that list, putting it together, and just making sure it's representative of an ever changing world.
Sudha: How critical is the private sector to meeting the SDGs? We are now in the decade of reporting so to speak and there are not too many years before we get to 2030. How critical is the private sector to meeting the SDGs?
Samantha: Oh, I would say they're quite pivotal. So if the central promise of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, around which the Sustainable Development Goals are planned, if the central promise of that is to leave no one behind, then one of the ways we get there is by leaving no company...
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Shownotes:
As a podcast host I meet so many inspiring people - I recently met with Neha Arora, who quit her job after working for nearly a decade in the private sector to set up Planet Abled (2016) with a vision to make travel/tourism accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities. Today, Planet Abled has grown to become a destination developer and ecosystem enabler.
Her business is rooted in authenticity, a gap in the market identified because of her lived experience. As a child she and parents (her mother is a wheel chair user and her father is blind) did not go on holidays or travel, she naively attributed it to not having enough money. Travelling with her parents when she started working opened her eyes to the reality - they chose not to travel due to the societal stigmas around disability and also inaccessibility at every stage of the travel journey.
In this eye opening episode we spoke about the series of side hustles Neha had before Planet Abled, the Indian travel and tourism landscape (from an accessibility lens), societal prejudice, assumptions that people with disabilities do not work or have money, that it is ok for make decisions on their behalf, lack of vision by investors…….👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 Quitting her job and becoming an entrepreneur
👉🏾 The need to mainstream accessible and inclusive travel, and not create a parallel industry
👉🏾 Census data and the reality that people with disabilities are hidden in Indian society
👉🏾 The demand and actual numbers of people with disabilities travelling
👉🏾 Awareness, attitudes and affordability - the three A’s that influence travel decision
👉🏾 The biggest challenges facing the industry
👉🏾 Policy and legislation
👉🏾 What accessible and inclusive travel/tourism would look like in an ideal world.
We also spoke about travel and tourism industry workforce training and sensitisation, the challenges she facing running her business, role models and what drives her.
To listen to the episode head to Apple podcasts or any other podcasting platform.
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Good afternoon, Neha. Thank you for making time to be a guest on The Elephant in The Room podcast today.
Neha: Thank you so much Sudha for inviting me and I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Sudha: Brilliant, To get started, let's start with a quick introduction. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Neha: Well, I'm Neha Arora and I'm the founder of Planet Abled, which makes tourism accessible and inclusive for persons with disabilities and the elderly. And I started because of my own personal experiences, because I never travelled as a child. And my parents who are now in their seventies and eighties, they never travelled until a few years ago. So after I started earning, the first thing I did was to save some money and travel, only to be disappointed by the inaccessibility and the societal stigmas related to it.
Neha: So we started off as a travel service provider and gradually grew up into a destination developer and an ecosystem enabler where we help businesses as well to become accessible and inclusive.
Sudha: Okay, that's very interesting. So you've said a bit about what PlanetAbled is. So it's very difficult, I understand when you start on your professional journey to actually quit a good job...
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Shownotes
After the initial high of 2020/21 DEIB/A or whatever you would like to call it, is facing rough going - budgets are being cut, dedicated DEI staff are being sacked or are leaving in droves. Organisations are using the cost of living crisis and economic slowdown as an excuse which doesn’t really make sense - are they easily expendable? What has not helped is that people have mistaken the high volume of talk(chatter) for action, all that virtue signalling and diversity washing has resulted in conversation overload and fatigue.
I recently interviewed Barbara Philips Chair of the Race and Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB) PRCA about the state of representation of the the ‘global majority’ (Black and ethnic minorities in common parlance) in the C-suite and in Boardrooms in our industry The first question I asked Barbara was if like the ‘State of the Nation’ report (social mobility), we should have a state of Board Representation in the UK and the rest of the world? And if it is time to hold companies accountable through transparency on data for progress or lack of - because data doesn’t lie (Actually it does occasionally when it is used selectively for greenwashing).
Fortunately, in 2023 no one is contesting the reality. The more important question now is how do we increase representation especially considering the industry’s reputation for homophily (birds of a feather etc.) on one side and the broken rung, or the glass ceiling that talent groups from global majority constantly have to face. And the absolute reality that we are not promoting nor nurturing enough leaders through the ranks.
At REEB we are determined to spotlight the vacuum, the lack of opportunities for talented leaders and the absence of creativity and imagination by the industry on how it can engage and nurture talent who can rightly take their seat at the high table or in the boardroom.
We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 Why Board representation is a focus area for REEB
👉🏾 Barriers for board representation/C-suite for Black and global majority
👉🏾 Why senior opportunities continue to elude talented global majority talent. Why are talent leaders and recruiters unable to engage with this untapped potential?
👉🏾 Shadow Boards: It was a resounding ‘No’ from Barbara
👉🏾 Steps organisations can take to get on the journey
We also spoke about role models and there is a call to action for the PR Industry.
For an industry that aspires to have a seat in the Board Room and the ear of senior leadership - it is perhaps time to change the narrative, move away from ‘spin’ and take action for change…….
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Good afternoon, Barbara. Wonderful to have you here today, and we're going to be discussing something that is very, very close to both your heart and my heart. And this is about senior representation, representation at the leadership level, board level representation for black and ethnic minority talent within our industry, and of course beyond, but let's limit our ambit to the PR industry at this point in time. To get started with the first question, like the state of the nation report, which talks about social mobility and looks at tracking social mobility in different ways now, rather than just looking at the number of people who've gotten into jobs, do you believe we should have a state of board representation in the UK and probably the rest of the...
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Shownotes
What does it mean for a business to be Carbon Neutral? Did you know that the buildings businesses inhabit can sometimes have the highest impact on their carbon footprint?
When businesses set ambitions to be Net Zero, what are the steps they take to get there? Does taking positive climate action mean sacrificing growth?
According to @Serbjeet Kohli Sustainability Practice Lead at Steer a global infrastructure consulting firm - it means decoupling growth with a businesses carbon impact. It is about reducing the impact of carbon generated per dollar, per pound, per INR that a company earns. As is obvious sustainability was the focus of our conversation in this episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast.
We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 ESG backlash - Serbjeet Kohli’s view that ESG or however you frame it is here to stay, that our communities and key stakeholders have set the direction of travel. The backlash is to be expected considering the huge ask, a fundamental shift in how we think, and evaluate the choices we make
👉🏾 The importance of embedding equity right at the concept state on how we design our cities, urban spaces or transportation and not start thinking about it post facto. Donor and investor imperatives
👉🏾 Moving from supply side world to demand side world - taking into consideration consumer based thinking to generate more value from assets
👉🏾 Addressing the Elephant in the room - the deep lack of diversity in the industry
👉🏾 The ability to swiftly adapt and thriving in change has be to the motto of sustainability transition
👉🏾 Future opportunities from a fast evolving sustainability landscape. And it never profitability vs sustainability, it is about doing both
If you would like to listen to the podcast - head to the links in the comments
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Good morning, Serbjeet. Wonderful to have you on The Elephant in the Room Podcast today.
Serbjeet: Good morning Sudha. Lovely to be here. Thank you for having me.
Sudha: Okay, let's start with a quick introduction. So who are you and what do you do?
Serbjeet: I'm Serbjeet Kohli. I'm the sustainability practice lead at Steer Group. I've been in the business for 15 years, been in the industry for 20 years, but the sustainability role is a new role.
Serbjeet: So I'm looking to expand and establish our offer in all the markets that Steer Group operates. We are an infrastructure consulting firm who's been in this practice for over 40 years. And we supported clients, both public and private sector around the globe, essentially helping them invest in infrastructure, transport infrastructure specifically. But as we move forward in the world, the challenges that are being faced by our clients, by our economies, by our communities are getting even more complex and what we are realising is that it isn't just an infrastructure solution that can answer the questions and the challenges that are being posed on its own.
Serbjeet: We need to think more widely, more sustainably and linking up different aspects of not just transport, but transport and energy, transport and energy and finance and all these solutions require fresh thinking. So that's what really our offer is, it's to bring our existing expertise, and...
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Shownotes
I don’t have to be a crystal gazer to say that we have a long way to go before we achieve gender equality and even longer before we get to gender equity. This is not something unique to one part of the world, this is a reality across geographies in developed and developing countries. After decades of advocacy the only thing we can say with certainty is that there is too much talk, and very little action. And that too much talk has resulted in gender washing and fatigue amongst those in positions in power.
The consensus from speaking to women leaders across the world is that the road to equity is steep and arduous. This struggle for representation and equity is stymied by a belief by people in positions of power and some women that all is well and that women can be who they aspire too and succeed.
To throw light on some of challenges faced by women in the workplace I recently spoke with Mohana Talapatra, an ex practice leader for sustainability and ESG (at one of the big 4). As Mohana describes it - she has worked in typically type A - predominately male centric work environments in global investment banking and consulting. So it was interesting to hear her perspective on what it takes to succeed in male dominated spaces
In this freewheeling conversation we spoke about a lot of things including
👉🏾 Learning how to claim the space which we occupy and where we want to belong
👉🏾 Challenges women face in the life cycle of their careers - imposter syndrome, being excluded, negative quietness bias…….
👉🏾 Evolving leadership styles and strategies to navigating power structures within organisations. We also speak about the Queen Bee syndrome
👉🏾 Treating your career like a marathon - and being prepared for the ups and downs. Mohana uses an interesting analogy of the stock market (short term/long term)
👉🏾 Thinking like a man (🤔🤔) - especially when it comes to taking credit, applying for roles or prestige projects
👉🏾 Choosing your battles and taking calculated career risks, developing a portfolio of skills
👉🏾 The importance of work life balance
👉🏾 What organisations can do to help women to succeed
We also spoke about the people who inspire her and much more…..
If you would like to listen to the podcast, head to the links in the comments
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Hey Mohana, thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast.
Mohana: Hi Sudha, lovely to be on this podcast and to be speaking with you today. I think about all the issues that are important to us in business and especially as being women in business, so very excited. Thank you.
Sudha: Me too. Looking forward to this conversation.
Sudha: So let's get started with a quick introduction. Do you have an elevator pitch? Do you have this quick thing that you tell people whenever you meet them? Because I get very flummoxed sometimes when I start giving a detailed introduction.
Mohana: No, absolutely. And that has been me also. I'm like, can we just talk about not me for a bit?
Mohana: And I just tend to gloss over it very quickly. But I think, as part of my recent training to be a coach, I'm learning that if we don't claim the space where we stand and where we want to belong, nobody's going to give us that space. So off late, I'm learning to craft an elevator pitch, but I've not...
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Shownotes
In the midst of all the doom and gloom, here is a heart warming story and wonderful initiative that taps into the ‘kindness bone’ of people. My guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast this week is Shishir Joshi, a veteran journalist and the Founder and Chief Executive of the award-winning not-for-profit Project Mumbai (www.projectmumbai.org) a public trust striving for social transformation through initiatives of scale.
Mumbai, is the city of dreams for millions of Indians. Its a city I spent over a decade in the city and fell in love with it, its spirit, its generosity, its ability to let people be, for everyone to dream, for everyone to be who they were, for being a safe city for women working crazy hours. I loved it for its indomitable spirit and humanity but also its street food (nothing to beat Mumbai street food). It is also the city where I met with Shishir (a journalist at that time) as a PR pro.
Coming back to the podcast, according to Shishir, the idea of “Project Mumbai” is founded on the belief that every human being has a kindness bone - especially Mumbaikars (people who live in Mumbai). And he wants to harness that to make Mumbai the ‘Kindness capital of India’. Project Mumbai represents what a successful model for what public, private, people partnerships should look like, showcases how we can achieve social transformations through collaborations and make our cities more accessible and safer for those who are the most vulnerable.
The tagline for this brilliant initiative is equally brilliant and colloquial “Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega” which losely translates to ‘I will do any thing for Mumbai’. The tagline beautifully captures the essence, the spirit of the city. And that not just why this volunteer-led non-profit, was selected by the UN SDG Action Campaign as one of the global recipients for the Solidarity Award, a special call from the annual UN SDG Action Awards 2020 (It is was 1 among 3 selected from India among 50 in the world)
Listen to Shishir Joshi speak about building cohesive teams, volunteers and their role during COVID, his favourite projects, proudest moments, biggest learnings, the future, and how cities could tackle some of their biggest challenges through similar initiatives and what it means to be a catalyst for positive change. To know more about how this incredible organisation is harnessing the kindness of people and collaboration to deliver on over 100+ successful partnerships towards building and creating a more inclusive city head to the podcast.
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Hey Shishir, Good afternoon. Thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today. Wonderful to have you here and see you after a very long time.
Shishir: Thank you so much, Sudha. And yes, I really love the title of this podcast that you have. It's very interesting
Sudha: Brilliant. So let's get started with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Shishir: Oh, it's going to take a long time.
Sudha: I can believe that.
Shishir: I'm Shishir Joshi and I head a not-for-profit called Project Mumbai, which may have been founded,...
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I think it is safe to say that 2023 has brought climate consciousness to more people than ever before. Extreme climate events across the world - forest fires, extreme heat, intense droughts, flooding, melting polar ice, changes in the weather pattern, rising air pollution, declining biodiversity have made it difficult for us to ignore climate realities - climate change is for real. And climate anxiety amongst people especially the young is becoming a cause for concern.
What about some of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis and global warming? Who are they and how concerned are they? According to the IEA ‘The Energy sector is central to efforts to combat climate change. Energy (Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are by far the largest contributor to global climate change) accounts for two-thirds of total greenhouse gas, so it is the central player in efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change.’
But, this sector that made obscene profits this year has not been doing much according to a recent report by the World Benchmarking Alliance. At the launch of the report two weeks back, I was staggered to hear one of the speakers mention that ‘pension funds have not set red lines on fossil fuel funding’. And that £88 billion has been invested in fossil fuel by UK pension funds and banks. It seems very careless, considering we are on the brink - so to speak.
The WBA Climate and Energy Benchmark in its second iteration assesses and ranks the world’s 100 most influential oil and gas companies including on their low carbon transition and social impact. In a recent conversation with Vicky Sins Climate and Energy Benchmark Lead at the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) we spoke about the benchmark, the significance of the insights and its impact on decarbonisation and transition to low carbon economy. Listing below some of the key findings 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 0, That’s right ZERO companies have committed to halting the expansion of fossil fuel activities before 2030. With no set date for phasing out fossil fuels most companies don’t have credible transition plans (Am I SHOUTING??)
👉🏾 Most companies have not set targets that cover their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions meaning that the majority of emissions from this sector are still not covered by reduction targets
👉🏾 Only a minority of the assessed companies are engaged with necessary preconditions for a ‘Just Transition’
👉🏾 Despite soaring profits companies are still not investing in a low carbon transition. Only 25% of companies report the amount of capital expenditure that they have invested in low carbon technologies
👉🏾 To halve the sector’s scope 1 and 2 emissions, companies need to invest $600 billion by 2030 into low-carbon solutions. This is not happening. Just 12 companies’s scope 1 and 2 emissions intensities have decreased in line with their 1.5C pathways.
👉🏾 Just 35% of companies are committed to social dialogue with workers and affected stakeholders and 46% percent disclose the share of their workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements
👉🏾 Over half of companies assessed still link executive remuneration or incentives to the growth of fossil fuels, and only 18% of assessed companies have scope 3 emission targets.
👉🏾 93% of companies score zero on just transition planning
If you would like to know more, head to the podcast. Link in the comments👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript
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I can never say this enough - hosting my own podcast means I have had the privilege to meet so many wonderful people, some of whom have gone on to become friends and trusted advisors. My first meeting with Seetha Rani KP was last year when running a workshop for NASSCOM senior industry leaders in Bengaluru, we connected over our lived experiences (and we were both wearing green).
She shared a story about her name - her name Seetha has a religious and cultural resonance. So, people have expectations about what Seetha should look like, how she should dress, behave, speak🤔🤔🧐🧐🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️ Seetha of course does not conform to any of the stereotypes, in fact she is intentional about smashing them.
So, when we caught up a couple of weeks back it was a pleasure to speak to hear about her role at Philips Innovation Campus. We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 Traits of a good leader, her leadership style as it has evolved over the years
👉🏾 The role of HR in driving purpose and culture in an organisation and defining the employee value proposition
👉🏾 Skills for HR to be able to step up to its expanding role and managing change
👉🏾 Advise for future practitioners
👉🏾 Role models - the people around her who inspire and motivate her
👉🏾 Her immense belief and faith in people and their abilities
If you would like to know more, head to the podcast. Link in the comments👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Good afternoon, Seetha. It's wonderful to finally have you on the Elephant in the Room podcast today.
Seetha: Lovely to be here with you.
Sudha: Brilliant. Let's get started. Can you give a quick introduction to who you are and please share a couple of experiences that have defined who you are today.
Seetha: Thanks for that, Sudha. I am a people's person, and I believe in making a difference to people and being joyful and bring joy to people, that's the core of who I am. And what has shaped this is my foundational years. I was born and brought up in Bangalore, in a place where I had people from different parts of India. We had people from Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and even Maharashtra, Gujarat. I grew up with different sets of people, and it also had different, classes of people. And also, we had people with disability who were thriving in that environment, we had people with polio. So I got a lot of exposure being with different kinds of people and probably that has helped me have a very diverse mindset. That is number one. And number two, I think, from my family, I draw a lot of strength, particularly I want to draw attention to what my dad was like. My dad was someone who really brought a lot of joy. As a child when I was growing up along with my siblings, every single day he would come home from work no matter how his day was, whether he was going through his own hardships.
Seetha: But when he would come home, he always got something for us; it could be chocolates or it could be like poppins or biscuits, et cetera. But it used to bring a lot of joy to us, he would take time to tell us stories, make up some his own stories and entertain us, and all of them brought a lot of joy and kind of made me believe that it's the moment, we have to seize the moment and make it count. I still remember my Dads, one of the incidents that, where he was old and ailing and frail, still wrote on my birthday, he wrote a handwritten note about me, a couple of lines, and which I framed and
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Shownotes
Most of the narrative around climate change, net zero, SDGs is framed from a global north perspective. Most of the studies (90% or more) on climate change are by academics and institutions based in the global north - primarily North America, Europe and Australia. Ironically the countries that have contributed most to global warming. Not only is there a lack of diversity in the current discourse but crucially there is a missing perspective from some of the poorest regions of the world, that have the biggest impact of global warming.
At The Elephant in the Room, I am attempting to give platform to some of the voices that can help broaden the perspective. In this episode I spoke with Prarthana Borah, India Director for CDP and an expert on climate change, air pollution conservation, environmental education. When we were discussing the episode, my one line brief was to keep our conversation relatable - we were not going to use jargon, rather use language that most people can understand.
The aim of course was to learn, and enable others to understand the language around climate change. In the episode we spoke about Prarthana’s incredible career in environment, conservation, clean air, CDP and its work in India, the CDP Annual Disclosure Report 2021, climate change, climate disclosure imperatives (India context), challenges, BRSR, greenwashing, ‘beyond compliance’, best practice. We also spoke about…….
As we discussed in this episode climate disclosure is not an and/or question. It is about business risk and resilience, it is about having a long term view and business sustainability….The top 1000 in India have to mandatorily report but what about the 100s of thousands of companies who are not being nudged by legislation in India… what is going to be the impact of not being ready for climate disclosure on NDCs??
Memorable passages from the podcast
👉🏾 So firstly thank you to The Purpose Room for having me here and I'm really excited, this happens to be my first podcast. So my name is Prarthana Prarthana Borah. I am the India Director of CDP. For those of you who don't know, CDP is a global not-for-profit primarily working in disclosures. We are headquartered in the UK, but we work on a subsidiary model. So we work in almost 60 countries with offices in North America, South America, India, and a large presence in the Asia Pacific region.
👉🏾 Personally, I would like to call myself an environmental educator, and I've been in the space for almost 30 years now. Started with conservation, nature education, moved on to sectoral areas of work. Started with first climate and then air pollution, and then back to climate again. Now in the last couple of years working specially with the business community to what I would say drive climate action, understanding of environmental issues and promoting sustainable business models with the help of disclosure.
👉🏾 So I think every organisation working in the environmental space, or especially in climate, would have to have a large ambition for the global south. And if we talk about the global south that two countries which have the highest emissions and also are capable of making the largest positive environmental impact are India and China. So I think like every other organisation working in this space, CDP has I must say, It does have an ambition for India and the very fact that we have a growing country office, and a growing ambition from the point of view of looking at more and more industry to convince them to adopt our disclosure process, as well as start thinking about the transition to net zero.
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Shownotes:
According to the Social Mobility Commission Report from last year only 35% of adults in the UK believe that everyone has a fair chance to go as far as their hard work will take them and 46% said that where you end up in society is mainly determined by your background and who your parents were. It is hard to disagree with what the commission has to say. But, every once in a while you hear stories of people who make it despite the challenges, the hurdles that they may have faced in life. This could be because of a teacher who is interested, a mentor who is committed to adding real value to the life of a mentee….
My guest on the podcast this week Rosie Wainwright, an ambassador for social justice met her mentor Laura @Career Ready. Laura hugely influenced the direction Rosie took in her life, by unlocking her love for books (as a dyslexic) and focusing on education as a path to attainment and breaking the cycle (in her own words). In the episode we spoke about her difficult life experiences, being in foster care, becoming an ambassador for social justice, a panel member on TACT (Fostering and Adoption Charity) and a people and change specialist at PA Consulting. We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 Learning what ‘normal’ looks like. Being the first person in her family to go to university
👉🏾 How Career Ready changed her life
👉🏾 The dreaded imposter syndrome, work place culture and being a culture fit
👉🏾 Her mantra ‘Reminding myself that I deserve to be where I am. I am not in my position because someone made a mistake’
👉🏾 Supporting social impact and widening participation
👉🏾 Her biggest achievement which is her relationship with herself and others
👉🏾 Networking and her mentor at PA Consulting Sally Bibb
“Words have power. Do not be embarrassed, your situation at a young age is not your fault. Focus on your education. Education is often the key to social mobility. So develop, learn skill yourself where you can. And something that I do now, make a conscious decision to surround yourself with people who uplift you, who are going to offer support and encouragement. And if your come across someone that inspires you - reach out to them, ask them to be your mentor like I did.”
I am ever so grateful to Rosie for sharing her story, her difficulties and triumphs with me and the listeners even though we discussed in advance what she was comfortable speaking about.
Memorable Passages from the Podcast:
👉🏾 Sure. So I'm Rosie Wainwright. I live in Southeast London and I work at a company called PA Consulting as a people and change specialist. I'm also a mentor and a qualified coach, and I sit on a fostering and adoption panel for a company called TACT. And yeah, I guess I'm passionate about social mobility and having a positive impact where I can.
👉🏾 Sure. So I would say that every experience in my life has shaped who I am today. But I'll keep it simple and I'll talk about my top three that kind of stick out in my memory. So the first would have to be, I think like most people, my childhood. So I grew up predominantly with my mom as a single parent and was helped to be raised by my grandparents. When they passed away, things took quite a turn. My mom, she had me very young and she got mixed up with the wrong people and got into the wrong things. So unfortunately, I became the target for most of her anger. I then went into foster care. I was about 14 or 15 years old, and the...
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Shownotes:
The angst associated with the imposter syndrome is something that a lot of us have felt or continue to feel at various points of our life.
This angst is different to the fear that comes with not being a ‘culture fit’. For decades organisations have weaponised ‘culture fit’ to exclude those who do not conform to the dominant cultural norms in a workplace. The global majority, the neurodiverse, people with disabilities or those on the margins tend to be punished for being different.
So much of the challenge across the world is because we like people to fit neatly into boxes. That we expect people to fit in with the our stereotypes, to conform to the dominant culture or workplace norms. Who is or can be Indian/American or British; or who is the ideal team member? Do they comply with our expectation of how they should look, dress, behave….? The good thing is that increasingly people resist being boxed. But, this is not an easy road to take….
I recently spoke with Sanjani Shah, the Global Head of PR at The Body Shop about identity, fitting in, her learnings from her career journey and personal purpose. In her own words, she spent her early career trying to fit in and was called a ‘coconut’ (brown on the outside and white on the inside) by friends and family. Accepting who she is and that she is good(great) has taken some unlearning.
In the episode we also spoke about what ‘Purpose’ means at the Body shop and how it translates and is embedded in how the organisation communicates. We also spoke about…
👉🏾 Speaking up, having a personal purpose, benevolent leadership, collaboration as the new paradigm
👉🏾 How The Body Shop continues to build on the legacy of Dame Anita Roddick
👉🏾 Authentic communications, greenwashing/sustainability washing?
👉🏾 The role of networks, mentors, sponsors for women and other disadvantaged groups?
👉🏾 Role models and reading lists
We ended talking about hindsight and doing things differently……
If you would like to listen more, head to the podcast….
Memorable Passages from the podcast
👉🏾 Yeah, good morning or good afternoon in India. Such a pleasure to be on the podcast.
👉🏾 So I'm Kenyan Indian, living in London. I'm one half of a dink, that's a "double income no kids" and one quarter of a pack of siblings. And I think, you know, if I just talk, if I say where I am now, I used to be FOMO and Covid has changed me to JOMO. So in my earlier years, always out very social.
And now I think since Covid, I've just become a lot more happy to be in my own company and don't feel like I have to be everywhere doing everything. So it's a little bit about me and because this podcast is about leadership, I wanted to talk a little bit about my career and some of the roles that I've done and some of my highlights.
👉🏾I would say that my first actual job was with the International Red Cross in Kenya and it was helping reunite families that were separated by the genocide in Rwanda. It was the most fulfilling role I've ever had. And it's the role that stays in my heart and, and that was a role I did before I even went to university, it was in my gap year and it was just amazing. I actually learned a lot about leadership then. Another highlight I would...
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Shownotes:
TRIGGER WARNING:
I have mental fatigue because I live between two countries, I feel unsettled, cannot plan too far into the future and there is a constant sense of restlessness, a journey not completed……..But, all of this I do out of choice (difficult though it may be). This is not about me but about perspective.
Most of us cannot even being to fathom the personal cost, the emotional and mental stress, the economic, social, physical cost of a never ending war forced upon peaceful people. What does it mean to not have any control over your life, not have the ability to look after yourself, your children, your elderly parents, your friends or plan for the future?
It has been 1 year, 2 months and 3 weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine….During that period 8 million Ukrainians have registered as refugees in Europe; 5.3 million Ukrainians have displaced internally; Over 5 million children have been displaced by the war; And millions of men separated from their families………..
In the midst of this tragedy, uncertainty and strife, there are people who are trying to get on with their lives, wherever they are. One such person is Dina Nemyrovych. I met Dina Nemyrovych at the @ICCO Conference in Dubai last year where she spoke passionately about the war in Ukraine, its impact on Ukrainians (including her and her family) and the work being done by millions of Ukrainians to support the effort. Over the past couple of months Dina Nemyrovych and I have been in conversation on how I (as an individual) or the industry could support them in the difficult work they have been doing.
The podcast is a first step to embarking on a journey to creating awareness about the scale of the task at hand. In a frank and often emotional chat Dina Nemyrovych spoke about DATTALION - a project founded and run by Ukrainian women.
The project is supported by international volunteers and is focused on collating authentic, verifiable war footage. The idea is to collect and store evidence of war crimes, environmental crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. “DATTALION is home to the largest free and independent open source database of Ukraine war footage as well as the database of verified eyewitness to the horrors of Russia’s invasion.”
We also spoke about the impact of the war on her and the family; the vision for DATTALION the challenges to running a volunteer led organisation, working in difficult circumstances; #mentalhealth health, staying resolute, what we can do to support DATTALION and Ukraine.
For the future there are plans to help capture the stories of Ukrainian women, whose lives have been roiled by the war - to create for posterity records of the impact of conflict, war. If you would like to learn more and support the efforts: visit the DATTALION website, Donate and listen to the podcast (Link in comments) 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Memorable Passages from the episode:
👉🏾 Good afternoon. I'm...
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According to a Deloitte Report from last year, “The UK has one of the poorest rates of social mobility in the developed world. This means that people born into low-income families, regardless of their talent, or their hard work, do not have the same access to opportunities as those born into more privileged circumstances”.
Charities like The National Tutoring Programme, the National Access programme, the Sutton Trust, The Social Mobility Foundation, Career Ready, UpReach are working hard to support young people in difficult circumstances. However, we are unlikely to see any transformational change without political will, finances, a joined up approach between the government, private sector and charities. And of course a mindset change.
A couple of weeks back I had two members of the Career Ready Youth Advisory Board on my podcast. For those who don’t know Career Ready, it is the national social mobility charity founded in 2002 to boost social mobility by empowering young people and giving their talents a platform to flourish. Career Ready now has a network of 1000 employer supporters, 3500 volunteers and have have so far reached over 200000 young people including supporting 30000 young people on its high impact Career Ready post-16 programme.
Both my guests Victoria Ayodeji and Marley Ahmed are highly self motivated, are on the path to great career journeys and deeply committed to giving back. And they are involved with various initiatives which support them in this ambition. Essentially these Gen Z social mobility advocates and role models, believing in walking the talk.
In this free wheeling conversation, we spoke about their early years, educational attainment,
👉🏾 Role of support networks and intermediaries like Career Ready or the Social Mobility Foundation
👉🏾 The Role of mentors in learning and making career choices
👉🏾 Their experience as Chair and member of the Youth Advisory Board at Career Ready
👉🏾 Advocacy and what giving back means for them
👉🏾 Social mobility in the UK and challenges
👉🏾 Role models, the future, change and many other uplifting issues…..
Depressingly a Sutton Trust research from 2022 reiterated something most of us already know - that opportunities are still determined by background. The research shockingly predicted a fall in income mobility for poorer young people due to the impact of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
What do we ensure that young people from disadvantaged background do not fall through the cracks........Who is to be held accountable for lack of support and access to opportunities?
Shownotes:
Memorable passages from the podcast:
Victoria: Hi everyone. My name's Victoria.
Victoria: So I recently graduated from university, so I went to Cambridge and I studied geography. I am also the Chair of the Career Ready Youth Advisory Board. Beyond that as well, I'm very interested in pop culture. I'm also a DJ. I'm also very interested in storytelling. I've been public speaking for the last 10 years and I'm also very passionate about social impacts. That's probably me in a nutshell and I'm trying to be a content creator as well. So feel free to follow me on socials.
Marley: That is quite an introduction. I'm Marley I'm a graduate University of Essex. I'm also a member of the Career Ready Youth Board. I...
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