Is AI inherently sexist? Or are we building AI with the biases we are still struggling to root out of our human interactions? And is a lack of diversity in the innovation process translating into the technology? AI is built and maintained by data, and if the data collected only represents the view of one type of individual or overly weights the importance of this information then the decisions AI makes will reinforce this inequality.   In a 2019 article for Sandford Social Innovation Review,...

Diversity is simply good for business. Companies with greater gender diversity in their leadership outperform their less diverse competitors, having higher returns on capital and credited with better employee engagement and retention. These companies have loyal customers, are more relevant to a broader customer base, are more innovative and are better at problem-solving. The same goes for companies that are more ethnically and racially diverse.  Almost no companies are reflective of the...

The Great Resignation, has seen employees  leaving their jobs at unprecedented rates. According to the US Labor Bureau in November 2021 alone, 4.5 million employees quit Reports by the online media publication The Plug states that workers across the U.S. are finding more reasons to leave their jobs than having reasons to stay, citing burnout, being overworked amid shortages in some industries and pay that hasn’t kept track with inflation. But for Black workers, unaddressed racial issues in...

Being unaware of people’s experiences of inequality like racism or sexism, often inadvertently and unwillingly leads to behaviors that are racist and sexist. We are simply blind to inequality. Being able to learn about inequality without ever having to experience it, is really the ultimate privilege. But just like inequality, when we deny our privilege we are blinded by it. Privilege makes it easy to deny other people’s experiences of inequality and keeps us from seeing the workplace in the...

Today on the show my dear friend Eve Rodsky is joining us! Eve has been featured on the show before, with her New York Times best selling book, Fair Play and now Eve is here again with her new book, 'Unicorn Space', which is all about making time for your creative pursuits. As a researcher, I was intrigued with this idea that men and women have different opportunities to pursue creative interests, which makes sense. Women disproportionally undertake domestic chores and child care...

This podcast is dedicated to the topic of hiring diverse talent whilst also looking at what businesses can do to really try and value difference.  Research states that 46% of people’s experiences of inclusion at work are down to their manager’s behavior. So, 46% of your experiences of whether you feel included or not are attributed to your manager’s behavior. So when I hear “not my workplace, I’ve done everything I can. My workplace is a meritocracy. These hostile work environments might be...

As adults, if we have never experienced homelessness, it can be really tempting to turn away and not engage with the humanity of the situation. Sometimes it’s just too upsetting and we feel guilty or even embarrassed about our own comparative security. We need reminding of the importance of engaging with homelessness empathetically and that it is not as far away as we might like to think.  Often it isn’t just one thing, most people become homeless because a lot of challenges in their life...

I often get asked by people, surely gender equality will just be achieved in time? Aren’t we becoming more progressive? Won’t younger generations ensure we have greater equality because they hold more liberal views.  The answer to all these questions is No.   The belief that we will just achieve equality through the passing of time is one of the reasons we will never achieve equality no matter how much time we have.   Equality is a practice it is something that we do. Taking action...

Over the last four years we have spoken with so many incredible people from all walks of life about how to make a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world.   During that time I have found there are some consistent lessons that people shared around what it really takes to build a workplace that works for everyone.   So to help kick off this year in the right way, we will be discussing my top 10 lessons learnt in DEI. This is based off the podcast episodes as well as our four decades of...

As the entire world works to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the role of effective leadership has been brought into razor sharp focus. What people need now are leaders with empathy, compassion and an ability to show support, skills that women leaders tend to exhibit more than men. While it may take a global pandemic to finally acknowledge the unique talents and capabilities women leaders offer, companies shouldn't wait until there is a crisis to afford women an opportunity to...

If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that to collaborate either virtually or in person we need to learn how we can bridge our individual and cultural differences and work as one team regardless of our location. We need to create culturally inclusive environments. Culture includes the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Culture also includes the shared patterns of behaviors, norms,...

Have you heard of the 'Great Resignation' or the 'Big Quit'? It is an informal name for the widespread trend of a significant number of workers leaving their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most news articles are covering the 'Great Resignation' in relation to the United States, the problem is happening on a global level and it is thought to be the result of many different factors, notably employees dissatisfaction with current working conditions and post Covid reassessment of the...

Recently a male colleague asked me what he could do to support women at work, and I told him to start by being an ally. Simply speaking up when someone makes a derogatory comment about women, even if it seems innocent enough, is how men can practice this. When one of his colleagues made a comment to him about the size of their female coworker’s breasts, he spoke up. He said, “Don’t do that. Don’t speak about her like that. It’s not cool.” While this might seem like a small action, it is...

Men’s ability to financially support their family is equated with their identity and self-worth. Living up to this requires that men have a job, conform to the 1950’s ideal worker image, and advance at work. This is the expectation we all hold for men, and it limits men’s freedom to explore their identities outside of work. We need to let go of the idea that women’s careers are somehow expendable, but men’s careers are not. This is not just good for women, it’s good for men. For example, a...

Over the last two years health and wellbeing has become front and center in organisational life, thanks to the pandemic. We have all heard of the business case for DEI but what about the wellness case for DEI?  It is becoming increasingly apparent that without compassionate, inclusive, people-centred workplaces, health and wellbeing suffers and, in turn, so does productivity. If we want more innovative, collaborative and productive workplaces, we need to put wellbeing front and center, not...

Both men and women are feeling even more burned out in 2021 than they were in 2020. The annual  'Women in the Workplace' report from McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.Org found that the gap between women and men who say they are burned out has nearly doubled in the last year. Women in particular have taken on more responsibilities at home from supervising remote learning for their children to basic household chores. Women have also been forced out of their jobs at a disproportionate rate. As the...

When we talk about pressure we usually conjure up negative images  – being pressured into something, feeling the weight of pressure. Even the dictionary definition of “pressure” focuses on coercion and intimidation. And who could forget Queen and David Bowie singing about pressure being the force that burns a building down, splits a family in two, puts people on streets. But is this the whole story? In this episode we are joined by Dane Jensen, CEO of Third Factor and an expert on pressure....

When men align with other men who hold positions of power, they are better able to access the privilege associated with that power. This includes things like having direct access to high-profile people, job opportunities, high-profile assignments, and rewards at work. Homosocial behaviors provide men with ways to develop relationships with other men in positions of power, to their benefit. There are many ways these behaviors show up in workplaces, but they tend to result in employees...

As workplaces are now taking the steps to shift back to versions of ‘business as usual’, it is also a critical time and a golden opportunity for them to focus on the wellbeing and psychological safety of employees across their organisation. We see psychological safety in teams when members engage in learning behaviours, such as asking for help, seeking feedback, admitting errors, being open about lack of knowledge, trying something new or voicing work-related dissenting views, with the...

When I started out in my career, there were so many articles and news reports, events, training and speakers sharing how to engage and manage millennial workers. And over the years I have seen this same focus extend to Generation Z. Companies want to and need to engage the next generation, many of whom want businesses to change their approach to sustainability, equity and corporate social responsibility for the better. The challenge is there isn't a quick fix to tackling the problem. All too...

In the process of selling my first book, I spoke to several editors at major publishing houses. One editor revealed that she was thankful her workplace was “not gendered in any way.” In that moment, I realized how much we all take inequality for granted at work. This made me determined to find a way to explain how systemic this issue is and how most workplaces don’t work for men and women in the same way—even industries that aren’t seemingly male dominated. In fact, the publishing industry is...

Last week the supreme court in the United States decided by five to four to allow Texas to effectively ban abortions in the state despite the blatant disregard of the court’s own 1973 ruling legalizing abortion in US, Roe v Wade. United Nations human rights experts have called the new Texas abortion law “structural sex and gender-based discrimination at its worst”.  Women of color, those with low incomes and from other vulnerable groups would be hardest hit from this ban. Given the...

From a young age, we are taught what the appropriate behavior is for boys and girls. Through repeated exposure over the years we come to know how men and women are meant to behave. These beliefs are then used to make judgments about women at work. When women succeed in traditionally male-dominated roles, they defy the expectations society has for women and they are punished for it. One study found that when women lead teams with only male employees or teams with a mix of male and female...

When it comes to innovation, current approaches tend to adopt a male lens, by only considering the needs of men, or only engaging men in the design process. Consequently, many products we have today were never designed with women in mind. While there is increased attention on the gender gap in innovation, it isn't enough.  What we need is a GENDER-RESPONSIVE APPROACH to innovation, which means going beyond acknowledging and raising awareness of gender gaps, to make sure women’s and men’s...

Between 2015 and 2020 there was a 107% increase in the number of people employed with the head of diversity job title, according to LinkedIn data. This global hiring trend is set to continue, as more businesses appreciate the fundamental importance, including to the bottom line of having more diverse representation and inclusive cultures.  The top three fastest growing roles in this space, according to a LinkedIn report, are Director of Diversity, Diversity Officer, and Head of Diversity....