Getting to the roots of diversity and inclusion

Over the decades, I have developed dozens of models and frameworks. One I am especially proud of is also one of the least well known – the diversity awareness ladder. Created in the early 1990s, it was an attempt to understand the relationship between our internal, silent conversations when we encounter someone different and the spoken or written conversations we have with or about them. The more instinctive and lacking in reflection/ self-awareness that the internal conversation is, the more guarded and politically over-correct the external conversation we will be.

The diversity of neurodiversity

The instinct to categorise and classify is one of the core characteristics of intelligence. It allows us to cope with complexity by creating patterns of connection that simplify decision-making. The downside is that it can easily also lead us to oversimplification. We tend to group people together by one or two characteristics, then over-emphasise characteristics that apply to only some people, who have those characteristics.

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Psychological safety and neurodivergence

The relationship between performance at work and psychological safety is well-established. High performance requires people (both as individuals and collectively) to be periodically in “flow”. That’s hard to achieve when our thoughts are distracted by fear of, for example, saying the wrong thing, or by the need to maintain a mask that protects us from...

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Working with highly sensitive people

The more we understand and appreciate the value of multiple types of diversity within a team, the more important it becomes to both recognise and accommodate each of these, so that they can contribute to the team’s cohesion and creativity. A golden rule I have learned (the hard way) is that whenever someone frequently and (more…)

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is inclusion…

The struggle for gender equality has been the pioneer for all the other aspects of diversity and inclusion we now recognise in the developed world. The way diverse groups increasingly find a voice, the policies governments and corporations adopt to accommodate the needs of diverse groups and the rhetoric of diversity owe a massive debt (more…)

Learning from the learning disadvantaged

When I reflect on what I am grateful for, high on the list is having a son with Down Syndrome. Today (21st March, 2024) is World Down Syndrome Day – an annual event to celebrate the benefits that people with learning difficulties can bring to the world. A few weeks ago, my son Jonathan competed...

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Diversity and Inclusion: Or Dithering and Indecision?

When historians look back at how companies and society tackled diversity and inclusion in the first half of this century, they will most likely comment that good intentions led to far slower progress than intended. They will point out that well-meant initiatives, such as implicit bias training, not only failed to have any lasting impact,...

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The keys to diversity at work

It’s a rare privilege to listen to someone, who has experienced great discrimination in the workplace, but has nonetheless achieved a highly successful career. Lord Browne of Madingley, former Chief executive of BP, this week gave at consultancy Arup in London, an impassioned speech , which was partly about his won experiences and partly about...

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Making space for female entrepreneurs

When a successful female entrepreneur is held up as a role model, is it a good thing or not? There is now so much evidence that women can be as effective (and in some circumstances, such as rural economies in developing countries, considerably more successful in business creation) than men, that the fact we still...

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Disability mentoring

One of my most emotive recollections of mentoring is taking part in a Civil Service programme for disabled staff. One of the participants was a Thalidomide victim. Only partially sighted, with only rudimentary fingers at the end of stumps of arms, he turned the pages of the workshop manual with his tongue. And he fiercely...

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