Episodes
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Shownotes:
Being an advocate for equity and inclusion requires a certain level of self-awareness, humility and an appetite to be a lifelong learner. Especially considering that the vocabulary around DEIB/DEIBA or whatever you choose to call it is constantly evolving, there is more we don’t know than we know.
My chance encounter with Caroline Collier, CEO Inclusion Barnet happened over a LinkedIn recruitment post and my subsequent message to her regarding the language. She was gracious in her response educating me about why they were using ‘disabled person’ (instead of person first language). I was slightly mortified but glad that I had the opportunity to engage with Caroline to better understand why they subscribe to the social model of disability.
I am grateful to Caroline for making time for this important conversation (a learning opportunity for me). In the episode we spoke about Inclusion Barnet and why it describes itself as a Deaf and Disabled People’s organisation, deaf being separate from disabled in deference to the cultural model of deafness. We also spoke at length about the ‘social model of disability; harnessing lived experiences for social change; acceptable language; role of the private sector in opening up opportunities; what allies can do to support; and the just launched ‘Campaign for Disability Justice’ calling for a) Opportunity b) Security c) Respect.
Did you know that care in the UK is based on a ‘medical model’ that frames the body or mind of disabled person as something that needs to be fixed?
“We see disability through the ‘social model’, where being Disabled is a political term that describes our experience of marginalisation, not individual impairments. The social model allows us to come together to fight back against a world that we can’t navigate safely without care and support. This model helps us understand that a flourishing social care system should give us access to choices and the freedom to live independently.
We want a system that enables us to live independently, rather than generating a list of ‘care tasks’ our local authority can charge us for. The struggle for a better, more equal system should unify us all to talk about intersectionality and disability justice alongside the crucial demands for fair conditions for both paid and unpaid carers, wholesale changes to the gendered imbalance of care responsibilities, and the need to tackle the looming climate crisis, which will affect our capacity to care for one another.” Caroline Collier, CEO Inclusion Barnet
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Good morning, Caroline. It's wonderful to have you today as a guest on the Elephant in the Room podcast. Thank you for being here
Caroline: Thank you. Really pleased to be asked, so thank you so much.
Sudha: Let's start with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Caroline: I'm Caroline Collier. I'm CEO of a deaf and disabled persons' organization called Inclusion Barnet. My background is varied. I started after college working in libraries. Then I ended up in my thirties writing about the construction industry, unusually enough. That changed in 2009 when I became really ill with what turned out to be bipolar. I had a bit of a rethink just because I wanted to find something with a little bit more purpose, and I was incredibly lucky to end up working in the organization that is now...
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Show notes:
We all need our cheerleaders, the people, who stand by us through thick and thin, who inspire and bring us joy. The friends who are like family or better. I am lucky to have a few friends like that. One amongst them is @SabianaAnandaraj, whom I have known since my first job in PR over 30 years ago when I was a young mom to two toddlers in Mumbai, and she was the young, independent, go getter who introduced me to the workings of the agency and our mutual clients. We worked together for a short while before life got in the way and we drifted apart - she moved jobs, got married, had kids and I moved to the UK.
It was serendipity that we bumped into each other in early 2007 in Mumbai. The circumstances were wildly different her father was in very ill in hospital and mine was in and out of hospital (the same hospital) as he battled a rare form of Parkinson’s. Sadly, both our fathers passed away in 2007 much before their time. And @SabianaAnandaraj facilitated my unexpected move back to India for a stint to look after my mother. This move would have been impossible without @SabianaAnandaraj offering me a role in the agency she worked for at that time. And the ‘rest as they say is history.’ Today, we have a deeply, fulfilling friendship and our lives are deeply enmeshed (along with the rest of the gang) enmeshed together (in the best possible way).
Getting her on the podcast has been on the cards for a while, to share her amazing work trajectory and her foray into entrepreneurship. But, also to spotlight the reality, that women in their 50s are not done as yet, they don’t suddenly lose their ambition. The dominant narrative is about them being overlooked and written off but some of us are pushing back against the lazy ageist trope. Sabiana and I are both in our mid-50s (soon to be late), have no plans to retire and firmly believe the next decade may be our best as yet Also, I don’t think we are the kind of people who will take kindly to being overlooked! In this free flowing conversation we spoke about our mothers, being old, work, women in leadership, ageism, freedom in the 50s, entrepreneurship, learnings, cheerleaders, staying motivated and much more…..
We still need to talk about female friendships, menopause, empty nest, ambition, aspiration, work-life, second innings, third innings, fulfilment, and definitions of success……
Meanwhile, head to the podcast to hear more……
Episode transcript
Sudha: Hi Sabiana. I'm so, so happy to have you as a guest on the Elephant in the Room podcast. We've been discussing this for the longest time, and finally, it has happened. It's good to see you here.
Sabiana: Thanks so much, Sudha. It has been a pleasure. I was really excited when you asked me to be a guest on your podcast. We know each other for decades, have had, n number of informal conversations. I think this is one of our first formal conversations on a platform like this. So, I'm really looking forward to it.
Sudha: Let's get started with the questions. I always ask all my guests. And even though I know you so well, and we've known each other for decades, please introduce yourself for our listeners and tell us a bit about yourself.
Sabiana: In the grand scheme of things, I am the third musketeer in the family lineup.
All the way from Bombay, I am today a 57 year old grown up. My one and only, what do I say? partner in crime is Trivikram. I've spawned two mini me's through him. One is...
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Missing episodes?
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Shownotes:
In the past couple of years, there have been a lot of discussions, debates, articles around how PR practitioners can combat misinformation. It is often cited as one of the bigger challenges along with AI (advanced technology) facing the PR industry.
The Elephant in the Room is the role of PR professionals in the dissemination and amplification of misinformation and fake news. How complicit are we as an industry when propagating the agenda of businesses, individuals, and governments?
Beyond the industry a lot of people ascribe ‘spin’ a pejorative term to the work being done by professionals. So, what’s the truth? To discuss this and more I spoke with Prof Lee Edwards, from the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE. Considering that the title of her 2020 research paper was, ‘Organised lying and professional legitimacy: public relations’ accountability in the disinformation debate’, she has an in-depth understanding of the subject.
In this episode of The Elephant in the Room, we spoke about role of PR in society; the misinformation debate; disposable diversity; ethics of climate communications, AI, ethics in general, and more……..
Thank you Stephen Waddington for the introductions, this fine conversation would not have been possible without your initiative.
Interested in learning more, head to the podcast (Link in comments) 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Hey, Lee Good morning. Wonderful to have you as a guest today on the podcast.
Lee: It's a pleasure. Thank you very much for having me, Sudha. I hope you're well.
Sudha: So, let's get started with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do. I'm really grateful to Stephen for the introductions that he made over email, but I'm keen to know more because I haven't really met with you.
Lee: Yeah, so my name is Lee. I'm a professor of strategic communications and public engagement at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and I've been there about seven years. Prior to that, I was at the University of Leeds, Manchester, and Leeds Beckett originally. My research area is focused on strategic communications, particularly public relations. That's the area I look at most. More recently, it has expanded into the area of public engagement and also media literacy, which ended up being quite nicely related to the type of work that I do.
I originally started in practice. I did about eight years working for the technology industries as a PR consultant. Like most PR practitioners I know, I kind of fell into it with no particular ambition to do PR, but just ended up there. I originally started in New Zealand, then I came back to London. I was mystified by the apparent power that Tony Blair's communications director, Alastair Campbell, had and how much he was hated because he was the proverbial spin doctor. I was working in the profession and didn't really feel like I was powerful at all.
So that led me to do a PhD focused on understanding how power works through public relations and in public relations as a profession. The rest is history, really. I've been working in academia now for just over 20 years and really love it.
Sudha: Wow, that's interesting. And I think that we should have another podcast episode, probably on your PhD, because like you, I'd agree that, yeah, we don't always feel very powerful as communications professionals. In fact, rather...
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Shownotes:
Most people would agree that sustainability is a much-abused word. It has become a catch call phrase for individuals and businesses keen on asserting their ‘good for society/good for planet credentials’. As we hurtle towards 2030, the reality is that the private sector has a pivotal role to play in helping to meet the SDGs. Cynicism aside, behind the rhetoric and noise, there is serious effort by some businesses to integrate it into their business strategy.
A couple of weeks back, I spoke with Chris Argent, Head of Sustainability for AMEA at Syngenta (A leader in agricultural innovation) to understand the role of the private sector in global food security (SDG 2), on innovations that can catalyse change and help improve the lives and livelihoods of farmers (especially marginal farmers).
According to the World Economic Forum, ‘the global food security challenge is straightforward: by 2050 the world must feed two billion people more and the demand for food will be 56% greater than 2010.’ The sector also accounts for a whopping 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of freshwater withdrawals, so there is also the need for adoption of innovative practices to be more sustainable.
What is the private sector doing to address SDG 2? How are businesses transforming and innovating for sustainable development? Chris covered some of the issues during our conversation👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 The link between purpose, profit and sustainability
👉🏾 How organisations can be authentic when speaking about purpose or sustainability
👉🏾 What it means to be a leader in agricultural innovation for Syngenta?
👉🏾 The impact of climate change on small and marginal farmers who make up majority of the world’s farmers and produce over 70-80% of the world’s food (UN FAO 2021)
👉🏾 The ‘Good Growth Plan’ (Indian context) a time bound target to reduce its carbon intensity by 50% by 2030 from a 2016 baseline
👉🏾 The Portfolio Sustainability Framework aimed at increasing transparency to external stakeholders
👉🏾 Changing food preferences and growing trend for sustainably grown food
We also spoke about sustainability narratives, reporting, communications and much more.
Global non-profit EAT, “Food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth”
To hear more, head to the podcast (Link in comments) 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Good morning, Chris. It's wonderful to have you as a guest on The Elephant in the Room Podcast today. Thank you for being here.
Chris: Thanks very much Sudha for inviting me to join. Looking forward to the discussion.
Sudha: Brilliant. Let's start with a quick introduction. So, you've moved from politics to external affairs and then sustainability. How has the journey been?
Chris: That's a great question. Things have certainly evolved in terms of sustainability over that period. As you mentioned, I started my career in Australian politics working in various roles for about seven years before moving to the private sector. And certainly, in that early days of sustainability, it certainly wasn't high on corporate's agenda. But over that time it has very much come to the fore, which I think is great for the community, for business and also for the...
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Kavneet Dasra Shownotes:
In my second innings I have been intentional about working with the third sector. Through The Elephant in the Room, I am able to engage vicariously with the sector without being a part of it. To some extent I have been able deepen my understanding and engagement with the sector through PRADAN where I truly believe there is an alignment between my passion and their purpose. However, truth be told the sector is cliquey and closed like most sectors/industries the world over. A bit jarring considering they exist to make society more equitable and inclusive, to provide support to the most excluded.
In the Indian sub-continent where I have spent a lot of my time it is no different. A cursory look at leadership, boards and composition of teams can be revelatory. That they mirror society, and all its inequalities is a bit alarming? Is it possible for them to continue to work with the excluded and marginalised, and be effective in their current avatar? What does it mean for the sustainability of the social sector short term and long term?
To learn about what the sector is doing to change, I reached out to Dasra one of India’s most respected and leading third sector organisation. Dasra evolved from being a philanthropy fund to a bridge between NGOs and funders. On their website they state that, ‘Equity is at the centre of everything we do’. To kickstart my conversations with the sector I spoke with Kavneet Sahni, who anchors internal DEI efforts, spear heads the GEDI (Gender, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) initiative at Dasra and leads on their Social Impact Program. GEDI is a lens that not only guides Dasra’s internal inclusion strategy but also informs their funding and grant making strategy. For the uninitiated GEDI is commonly used amongst multilateral organisations including ILO, IRC, UN to frame conversations on diversity and inclusion.
In this freewheeling episode Kavneet and I spoke about her background, move to the third sector, faith, privilege, GEDI, the drivers for change in the social sector, representation, war for talent, barriers to change, best practice, inclusive campaigns and initiatives, successes and failures………
My one key takeaway, the road to inclusion is paved with failure and learning……..
To hear more, head to the podcast….
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Good morning, Kavneet. It's wonderful to have you as a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today. Thank you for being here and making time.
Kavneet: Thank you, Sudha. It's a pleasure to be here and I'm so delighted that you actually are interested in learning a bit more about my journey and the work that we do at Dasra around diversity and inclusion. So, thank you for having me.
Sudha: Let’s start with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Kavneet: So, I work as an Associate Director at Dasra and my role primarily is to design and implement capacity building programs for non-profits and other stakeholders in the sector. You may know this, but Dasra was formed on the basis that there is a lot of funding, a lot of focus that goes into supporting programs, on ground and very little focus on building stronger institutions like we often do in the corporate world. So, my role, my journey at Dasara has been, very old. I've spent close to 11 years at Dasara now and most of my time goes in building, designing programs, which will help nonprofit leaders, look...
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Shownotes
Nelson Mandela famously said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does”. There are examples the world over whether it is Cricket, Football, Athletics, Tennis ……. It brings together fans and inspires current and future generations. However, like the rest of our society and business racism and exclusion is rife in sports. The good news is that there has been a concerted effort by sportspersons, sports bodies, regulators address systemic issues in the past couple of years.
Recently, I had a wonderful opportunity to engage with Jatin Patel, to learn more about what is being done by Rugby England to bring about change. We spoke at length about the four areas of focus including i) embedding inclusion in the life cycle of employees in the org; ii) gameplay; iii) game leadership and iv) fan, followers and partners. A huge and challenging remit by any standards.
We spoke about the importance of data for building a business case in organisations; his thoughts on whether DEIB/A is really slowing down/stalling; Social mobility as one of the biggest challenges facing English Rugby; Racism at the institutional level and steps being taken to tackle the behaviour of fans and influencers; Role models; accountability and much more…….
Key takeaway, much needs to be done and nothing is going to change overnight but the collaborative approach by England Rugby, the two premierships (men's and women's premiership), as well as the rugby players association, to develop an elite game, inclusion diversity plan seems like a step in the right direction (to address root and branch).
Like to learn more, head to the links in the comments 👇🏾👇🏾
“Ultimately being in this job is about influencing. And I think a lot of leaders have realised that EDI leaders are influencers, they use knowledge and expertise and data to drive suggested ways of change, but they understand they can't do it themselves.
And I think it's that layer below where people do need more help because perhaps they've been more stretched that we need to close that gap of understanding that EDI practitioners are not there to do the job, they're there to help you and enable you to do the job, to be more inclusive, and therefore see diversity foster and succeed as a result of it.” Jatin Patel
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Good afternoon, Jatin. Thank you for being a guest on the Elephant in the Room podcast today.
Jatin: My pleasure. And good morning to you Sudha good to see you.
Sudha: Good evening, actually.
Jatin: Oh, good evening. Of course, it's evening. I knew that. Good evening Sudha. Good to see you.
Sudha: Okay, so let's get started with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Jatin: Sure. So I'm Jatin Patel and I'm the Inclusion and Diversity Director at the RFU, which is the England Rugby Football Union. Been in post now just over two years and in terms of what I do, I think the simplest way of describing the way I do my role is across kind of four critical pillars.
We look at how we can build a more inclusive and diverse approach to employees on board. So the organisation, I describe that typically as your very...
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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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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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Shownotes:
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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