Why Care?

This is a unique Why Care? episode - a live fireside chat where I am the one being interviewed! The interviewer is my dear friend, Darin de Klerk , as we discuss all things Beyond Discomfort at my Book Launch event, which took place on 21st March 2024. During our intimate conversation, we tackle the challenges of leadership development and the significance of valuing diverse perspectives. I share...

In the second special celebrity episode of Why Care? I am joined by the multi-talented, Double Olympic Champion, Dame Kelly Holmes . We dive deeper into her  journey of self-discovery, personal experiences, and traumas, which she explores in her powerful memoir Unique . Kelly shares her emotional backstory in which she concealed her true identity and sexuality from the public and lived in fear for...

In this special celebrity episode of Why Care? I am joined by the truly inspiring, Dr. Ranj, to delve deeper into what drives him, his passion for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and his perspective on how to break society’s confines of masculinity. Dr. Ranj shares many personal life experiences as we discuss his cultural upbringing, mindset, sexuality, identity, and journey to being authe...

In Episode 40 of Why Care? I am joined by the brilliant and highly entertaining David McQueen to delve deeper into his brand-new book, The Brave Leader . David shares some life experiences, powerful insights and we touch on subjects such as the importance of followership, his BRAVE framework for good leadership, and how to take a systems approach to inclusive leadership.  David’s dedication to DEI...

“I encourage people in my books to please lean into your privileges, they give you a chance to show up as an ally, take advantage of all of them and I do but I simultaneously also understand the implications of what not having that access looks like. And even though I can't fix all of that, I also have a bit of responsibility to be a part of the solution.” In Episode 39 of Why Care?, I am join...

“The reframing that I do around that is that meritocracy is a myth, the fact that everyone wants to get a job on their merit. Sadly, we know that lots of people get jobs because of who they know not necessarily what they know. They get opportunities and extra opportunities because of who they are...” In Episode 38 of Why Care?, I am joined by Jenny Garrett , Founder of Jenny Garrett Global to disc...

(Leadership theories are being developed by white men and researched on those from white backgrounds). “I think the biggest risk is how subtly permeated this exists within our definitions of leadership, of the leadership that we value and trust…" In Episode 37 of Why Care?, I speak to Jenny Vazquez-Newsum, Founder and CEO of Untapped Leadership . We discuss her book, Untapped Leadership, and...

“The other problem that we have is that people disregard the nuances of, in this case, women. And one of my Forbes pieces that I wrote, which is called Women are not a Monolith, and we must stop treating them as such..." In Episode 36, Sheree Atcheson , Global DEI Senior Executive at Valtech , joins me to speak about her book, Demanding More . We explore the concept of white saviourism and wh...

"So quite often I find all that DEI activities and initiatives is operating without a plan. People don't know what they're aiming for, right? They may have read something on LinkedIn, or they experience something in their previous organisation, or they've read an article somewhere and they go, we should do this. And it kind of ends up being this big shopping list of activity that...

“And so, what we try to lift up in this book is ways for people to shift their mindsets from having that fixed mindset of thinking this is the way it is, it's the way it's always going to be, people won't grow, people won't change, it’s how it’s been for centuries, so maybe there's a way for us to ask these tough questions. For them to believe with optimism and competence and h...

In Episode 33, I am joined by Amri Johnson , CEO and Founder of Inclusion Wins , to discuss the dangers of being led only by emotion and not reason, the dangers of being led by passion and not skill, and what DEI practitioners and organisations need to do to sustain DEI efforts. Amri’s DEI journey has spanned over two decades and is based on his experiences as a social capitalist, epidemiologist,...

“I think this is a question for the world of work overall, which is challenge versus consensus. I think it is something you have to acknowledge as a leader which is that you might have three points of view in the room. If you go for consensus, you might be getting half good of all three of them. How do you get the very best? because if you’ve got those three opinions, everybody’s worked quite hard...

“I want to challenge the comfortable in all of us and in myself. I want to invite us to walk that path together because the comfortable amongst us is needed in the change equation so desperately for change to be sustainable, to be at scale, to be accelerated, to address the real pain and inequities in our society.” In Episode 31, I am joined by Jennifer Brown, Founder and CEO of Jennifer Brown Con...

‘With multicultural women, we see that most of the time they are like, I will be just like everyone else, I will be talented and work hard and my work will speak for myself. It’s not easy for these women to deal with these issues. Being intentional about getting the assistance you need, setting your goals and moving up .. How do you use your difference as an asset and leverage it as an advantage f...

“Let’s not focus on just the number of representations, let’s focus on creating an environment where everyone has an equal chance to succeed, the numbers will then work themselves out. We would truly have the best people in the best positions instead of advantaged privileged white men who might have advanced in their career because of privilege they didn’t even see, and that leads to the dispariti...

“There’s no pressure on you to be global - there’s pressure on you to think about who is around your table. To think about who you’re bringing in to start a strategy.” In Episode 28, I am joined by Claire Brody , Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Warner Bros. Discovery , to discuss the art of localisation. Claire shares valuable learning and insight on how to develop a DEI strategy t...

The Inner Work of Inclusive Leadership “We need to be able to be so attuned to what’s going out around you. And the only way to do that in a stable way is by being rooted in the way you are. In really understanding…OK, is this me? This constant evaluating.” In Episode 27, I am joined by Rose Cartolari , Founder and Director of RC Consulting , which specialises in Leadership Advisory and Executive...

“Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not” In Episode 26 I am joined by Sámi Ben-Ali, Vice President of Inclusion & Diversity at Wood, to discuss the importance of silencing the echo chambers, recognising that lived experience fuels individual perspectives, and how times of global crisis often put the focus on individual survival over the needs of the group. Sámi’s interest in DEI started...

“When it comes to creating that inclusive culture, frankly you’re either leading the way or getting in the way – because neutral doesn’t exist” In Episode 25 I am joined by Devi Virdi, Group Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Centrica, to discuss how cultural intelligence is key to inclusive leadership, the importance of collecting employee data, and ‘the power of truth’. Devi’s DEI journey is o...

“Everyone has their personal passion points, and [DEI] conversation[s are] often looked at from a personal viewpoint. So it’s not really looked at as a business driver or a business conversation, it’s looked at as ‘I care about gender’, ‘I care about race’, ‘I care about disability because my child has a disability’ and you have to encourage the leaders to go outside the scope of their personal pa...

“When you start defining diversity in a broader sense, usually you will find a lot of people who are passionate about one element. Maybe they have experienced exclusion because they are a certain age, or have a certain number of years at the company, and they don’t feel like they’re taken seriously or listened too. Getting people engaged in one element is important, and that’s where the wave start...

“Often if some organisations or people feel that something is a ‘tick box’- it fails. We see that time and time again. So if you can, through passion and collaboration, create momentum, then that’s what’s gonna keep things going.” In Episode 22 I am joined by Nina Goswami, Creative Diversity Lead for the BBC, to discuss the importance of inclusive storytelling, representation in the media, and the...

“I asked the team – Where should I go? What should I read? What should I look at? I had conversations with my own team members around certain areas that genuinely I didn’t quite understand…..I would have been the first person in the world to say ‘I do not see colour, I do not see gender’…..and it’s the most cliched, most inaccurate thing someone in my position could ever say” In the first episode...

“There was definitely a level of expectation that you felt, I use the word pressure because that’s exactly what it felt like at the time. Some people thrive upon that and go forward, I rebelled – I did the exact opposite. My rebellious bit was to go ‘I don’t want to pursue academia anymore, I want to go and work, I want my own financial independence’ and not to choose the cookie cutter path.” In t...

“2020, the year that changed everything in all of our lives around the globe. Whether it was the global health crisis and pandemic of COVID, or looking at everyone working under quarantine, or looking at some of the social-racial unrest that has happened around the globe. We started to go from diversity, to diversity and inclusion, to that year - we started talking about belonging, intersectionali...