The Elephant in the Room

Shownotes The third episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast in partnership with the India Justice Report focuses on the status of women in policing in India. Despite the target set by the Indian Home Ministry in 2009 to achieve 33% women in the police force - representation has increased by a mere 5% in a decade. While many states have mandated 10% to 33% reservation for women in the poli...

Shownotes:  CBE, Founder of Socially Mobile, Future Proof and several other initiatives to build a better industry. Sarah Waddington, CBE had the foresight to launch her purpose driven management consultancy a decade before others started talking about Purpose. In this episode I spoke to her about journey 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 👉🏾 The importance of shared values for great results and purpose being a...

LinkedIn How often have you complained about the homogeneity of panels at conferences; teams at client pitches; leadership teams in organisations? My personal experiences over the past decade have strengthened my belief that it is not just important to have representation, equally important is visibility. Visibility that can help to create recognition about diverse leadership and make it the norm...

Shownotes It is the holy month of Ramadan (Ramazan) for millions of muslims across the world - a time of fasting, prayer and reflection. My memories of Ramadan(from India) are all about food (Iftar) and sweet sewai. Earlier this week I caught up Uzma Lodhi to hear her thoughts on Ramadan, what it means to her and how important it is for her personal identity, We also spoke about….. 👉🏾 Childhood...

Shownotes: Becky Cho, Head of Corporate Affairs at VFC, APAC is my guest on of The Elephant in the Room podcast this week. Becky has lived and worked across countries and continents and did not take the traditional route into PR. Interestingly she was an art agent before moving to Leo Burnett and then taking on her first role in corporate affairs at Philip Morris in Taiwan.  In the episode Be...

Shownotes Theresa May’s 2017 general election manifesto had a pledge to require all large employers to publish their ethnicity pay gaps. And then Boris Johnsons election manifesto did not contain anything on the ethnicity pay gap reporting.  In February this year the House of Comms women and equalities committee (WEC) said in a report that ‘Large companies should be required by law to publish...

“Digital technologies are accelerants, they are cross cutting enablers of sustainable development. It is not just one SDG that they can facilitate or hinder but it is all the SDGs. That is how central the digital system is” @Lourdes Montenegro, Lead Digital Sector Transformation at the WBA. While the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies it has also widened the gap between...

ShowNotes The collaboration between The Purpose Room and The India Justice Report came about because we are aligned in our core purpose to contributing our own two cents/rupees to creating a better world. The partnership is about helping raise awareness and understanding of the Indian justice system - so that individual know their rights and familiarise themselves with the workings of the jus...

Shownotes PRCA’s Race and Ethnicity Equity Board(REEB) was set up in 2020 in response to the urgency and momentum created by the tragic killing of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter movement. REEB was set up with a view to helping build a fairer, more representative industry. It has standing committee status and two members of REEB(including the Chair) sit on the PRCA Board. And in the short...

Shownotes Did you know that we are already two years, into the 'Decade of Action' - which calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to meet the SDGs. This is the decade of reporting, on where we are; what we have achieved; and what still needs to be done as we race towards the finish line. Also, there is increased scrutiny on the contribution or lack of by multinational enterprises in achi...

Shownotes In 2022 as an industry we should be able to reflect the diversity of the societies in which we live and try to influence. The same is true for leadership and when we speak about women in leadership there is a huge need to showcase ethnic and cultural diversity also. There is sufficient data to show that role models and leaders who look like us are critical to ensuring our diverse workfor...

Shownotes The Elephant in the Room is my learning and listening project. Something that started out during a period of deep introspection and despair evolved to also becoming a passion project. But being passionate means always trying to do better and living up to the committed purpose - to shine a light on issues of inclusion & inequity. In this case it is about spotlighting the importance of...

Shownotes Dr Titilola Banjoko Chair of the Board of Trustees UK, IRC was my first guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast. I invited her back to talk about the humanitarian crises facing the world, with a record number of 274 million people expected to be dependent on humanitarian aid in 2022.  The 2022 IRC Watchlist - a public report that warns global leaders, policymakers and concerned ci...

Shownotes:  Journalists and PR professionals don't always trust each other, even though there is a mutual dependence - journalists are wary of spin, and the PR pro is worried about a negative angle or a hatchet job. However, it is possible to foster trust based on good ethics, respect and professionalism. My guest Deepali Gupta is a journalist with nearly 2 decades of experience working with...

Shownotes It's a new year, a new day and The Elephant in the Room podcast is ready with its first episode of 2022. My guest Dr Mukund Rajan is the Chairman of Ecube, an investment advisory focused on transforming the climate and ESG landscape in India.  The focus of this freewheeling conversation in this episode is around ESG and Dr Rajan's latest book 'Outlast - how ESG can benefit your...

Shownotes: Something to celebrate before winding down for 2021. The Elephant in the Room podcast is a year old (slightly over actually:) 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽 When I launched The Elephant in the Room last year, I knew that it was going to be a weekly podcast - that is the sum total of what I knew for certain. Beyond determination and hard work there was nothing else to recommend me or The Elephant in the R...

Shownotes:  It is a fact that across the world indigenous people are on the frontline of climate crisis, they are particularly vulnerable to the extremes of climate change. Deforestation, unseasonal rains and shrinking water supplies are already impacting their precarious livelihoods. As a follow-up to my conversation with the World Benchmarking Alliance on a 'Just Transition' I spoke wi...

Shownotes:  In the 50th episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast my guest is Shilpa Ajwani, a strategy consultant & leadership advisor to consumer/lifestyle enterprises and Founder of two startups UnoMantra and SheMantra. As two women leaders we were keen to use our conversation to explore the barriers faced by women in leadership, her second innings; passion projects; spirituality, be...

As we navigate a world in a constant state of flux, there are deep discussions around what organisational purpose actually means, not just as rhetoric for public consumption but the systemic actions organisations need to take in order to live their values.  For the first time in decades we are also redefining leadership and the must have skills for leaders of today.  In the 50th episode...

Carbon neutrality, De-carbonisation, Carbon credits, Carbon offsets, Carbon sequestration, CFCs global warming, Adaptation fund, Kyoto Protocol, Bali Roadmap, Paris Agreement, G-77, UNFCCC are terms we are increasingly getting familiar with as more and more people across the world engage on issues of climate change.  To that list add 'Just Transition' - an initiative of the World Benchmarking...

The last 18 months have deepened the divide amongst people across the world. These divisions have been amplified by the worsening social and economic realities of a post pandemic society. As individuals the fissures mean that households/friends are often on different sides of the divide, neither side willing to concede or find middle ground. The ubiquitous social media platforms that have made our...

Shownotes My guest on the 46th episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast this week is Chandana Agarwal, President North, 82.5, Ogilvy Group, India. With over 2 decades in advertising she has helped launch and build brands in India that have been appreciated globally and have gone up to win international Creative and Effectiveness awards. In this episode we talk about her growing up as a girl in...

Shownotes:  In the 45th episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast I spoke with the unflappable Koray Camgoz, Director of Communications and Marketing at the PRCA. For many of us in the industry he is the 'go to' guy for anything to do with the PRCA.   Koray is passionate about DEI and has been deeply involved in all PRCA DEI initiatives including REEB and EIAC.  In this episode we...

Parallels have been drawn between racism in the west and casteism in India - both are social constructs, both privilege groups of people, limiting the life chances and horizons of millions of people because of where they are born For everyone interested in race, an understanding of caste it essential. Pulitzer Prize winner and author Isabel Wilkerson says, "We cannot fully understand the current u...

Shownotes The Elephant in the Room podcast is back this week with our guest Romeo Effs, Founder and CEO of Lumorus, a global consultancy focusing on addressing the disconnect, inequality and upheavals within society that stem from a lack of sustainable, forward-looking governance and leadership. In this episode we speak about his name (Romeo), journey from Jamaica, a fairly successful internationa...