Diverse & Inclusive Leaders

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Asif Sadiq, Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Warner Brothers Discovery"At Warner Brothers Discovery, I'm looking at the internal elements. I'm looking at productions. I'm looking at our content. You know, how do we make it more diverse? How do we tell authentic stories? And that's how D&I should be positioned. In a way that you are really aligning to the internal and the external so that the messaging and what you truly believe in is consistent."You'll hear about:- A whistlestop tour of Asif's personal and professional journey including his early experience in different industries, his thoughts on authentic storytelling that is aligned with D&I, his Kenyan heritage, his family, race as a huge element while growing up and his views on disability inclusion- The need for D&I efforts to move away from alignment with the dominant culture, to give other minority

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Salma De Graaff, VP People/(CHRO) at Skyscanner"People that have come from the people function that can lead an organization, they're also leading the people in an organization and finding a way to understand and facilitate both what generates great revenue and what are going to be the key elements that lead the company forward and also how do we create the environment able to thrive."You'll hear about:- Salma's rich personal history and her upbringing with an immigrant father and growing up in an Asian family with its educational pressures, through her career in sales into HR- How her move abroad made her understand privilege from an intersectional lens, but also started her on her travel history, living in the Netherlands, Suriname, Kinshasa, The Dominican Republic, Congo, Ethiopia and finally back to the Netherlands with regular trips to the UK.-  The importance of a strong understanding of the c

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Clare Costello, Chief People and Inclusion officer at the Co-op"How many times have I said to somebody in the last decade, You're a fantastic negotiator. You can pull an RFP together, analyze data in such an immense way, massive thumbs up, humanity, stakeholders, kind of. Okay. But if you can get your people scaled up, you'll go from being a really good buy to being amazing. And it is that is the more people centric side that shifts the dial in terms of how we work together and the outcomes that you can get to."You'll hear about:- Clare's professional journey through accounting to procurement and now to people.- How to grow and develop relationships in terms of the supply chain, and in particular how to manage the more difficult parts of these relationships-  The importance of transparency and honesty in business relationships as well as creating a spirit of collaboration to make everyone feel

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Zahoor Ahmad, Head of Social Mobility, Inclusion and Belonging at Coop and Executive Director at Alchemy Performance."Through emotional intelligence you can create a level of psychological safety and then people are accepting of ideas because they are non-threatening. However, if people enter their fight or flight mode when you approach them, you're not going to get much out of them."You'll hear about:- Zahoor's evolution through D&I including why he peaked at the age of 11, his Pakistani background, his experience of racism in public schools at a young age, how he's used his degree in psychology starting from social services to race equality to fire services, his career break where he wrote a novel and then continuing on to Royal Mail, the finance sector and finally to the Coop.- The differences he found within organisations at his various roles and what it means to be a forward-thinking D

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Brendan Vaughan, Editor in Chief of Fast Company."There are enough organisations that truly do value work-life balance - the idea that you shouldn't have an always, always, always on culture or you will lose people. That's never been more true than it is these days."You'll hear about:- Brendan's evolution as a journalist and how he ended up as the Editor in Chief of Fast Company- How the meaning of productivity has changed since the pandemic, with people's priorities shifting and how the future of work continues to evolve to meet the needs of modern day.-  What Diversity means to Brendan,  how D&I has evolved in the media and how to embed D&I into every facet of the industry- How diversity plays out as it intersects with other facets such as race, disability etc- The importance of doing the right thing.Continue the conversation on LinkedIn

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Margaret Johnston-Clarke, Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for L'Oreal."The most important decision I made at the time which I would recommend highly to anyone moving into this sphere today is to really understand the corporate culture of your organisation but also  what the business culture is like."You'll hear about:- Margaret's personal and professional story including her wonderfully rich and colourful career and background- The importance of understanding organisational culture and the intersection between brand, business case and social good-  How Margaret's role has evolved over the past 20 years, having been carved out because of L'Oreal's foresight about customer needs and the changing landscape- How to be more outspoken about leadership and social justice issues- Navigating tricky scenarios like finding the line between personal opinion and corporate comm

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Raj Verma, Chief Diversity, Culture+ Ex Officer for Sanofi."One of the reasons why I put together the function that I lead today around diversity, culture and experience is because they are the reasons people join and they are the reasons people leave an organization."You'll hear about:- Raj's personal and professional story including his childhood moving from a predominantly brown and black neighbourhood to being a minority in his class, his educational background, and his career journey in DIBE starting from his first role in Dagenham, UK- Why DIBE is so important within an organisation, and why having great people within your organisation is important- The importance of putting the individual at the centre of transformation strategy, designing things for them and with them-  The 80/20 rule in creating culture, employee experience being a multi-way relationship and why people stay at an organisation- T

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Clay Johnson, Senior Learning Technologist, University of the West of England."I think we need to change our educational framework...Modern education needs to address modern societal need. That process is happening within schools at the grassroots. It is happening organically because teachers fundamentally want to establish positive relationships with the people that they teach."You'll hear about:- Clay’s personal and professional story including his childhood in a mixed race neighbourhood in South Africa in the 70s, his experience of apartheid, moving to the UK and his life since- How challenges experienced by minority groups are sometimes viewed through a distant lens, without full appreciation of what they go through and an understanding of the deep-seated legacy issues that arise- How Clay has modified his own behaviour like many others from minority communities have in response to the ramification of glo

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Scott Walker, CEO of XpertHR, part of the Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions Group."You know Millennials and Gen-Z in the workplace are demanding that their organisations are ethical in the way in which they both interact with the world and their communities around them but also how they treat their employees and there is an innate sense of fairness that these employees really are insisting upon and so the people functions within the business are recognising that this is something that we absolutely need to be improving upon and address."You'll hear about:- Scott's personal and professional journey including how he came to be CEO of XpertHR and how his present role spearheads industry challenges-  Thought leadership and adoption of various areas to drive business for good- The need for organisations to truly be walking the walk that they talk about and the expectation of future generations of leaders - The futur

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, CEO of the 10,000 Interns Foundation."When you're leaving school or university you are bombarded with a repeated 'What are you going to do?' The more interesting questions are 'What do you want your life to look like?' or 'What do you want your life to feel like?' Finding the answers to those questions will tell you what you're going to do."You'll hear about:- Rebecca's personal and professional journey including the road to becoming CEO of 10,000 interns starting with her family and heritage, background in sport, exposure to multiple cultures, early start as a founder- The 'isms' that people face especially in high level positions at a young age and as a woman of colour- The balance between talent and experience and breaking out of the stereotypical shape of what a CEO might look like- Shame, equity, empathy towards others

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis , CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Nicholas Petche, Editor in Chief for Yahoo UK."People are complicated, and we can get blind to this because we think about human relationships in terms of what can and can't be said. What we can do is to create circumstances and the narratives that will enable opportunities to be as wide as possible."- Nick's personal and professional journey including his global career, how he came to be in his current position and how it impacted his growth.- The importance of curiousity to learn about people and the need for belonging, highlighting common threads between humans- What's changed in journalism over the last several years- The founding of  Yahoo Diversity in Journalism and its impact- The opportunity gap, the barriers that prevent talent and how to keep feeding in diversity of thought- Is there now a conflict in diversity and inclusion? Is there a lot of confusion over what Diversity really is, and

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis , CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Ben Bengougam, Senior Vice President Human Resources across EMEA for Hilton."In order to deserve that proverbial seat at the table, you still have to make a credible link between what you do for your people and business success."- Ben's personal and professional journey including how he came to be in his current position and how it impacted his leadership style.- How the role of an HR leader has evolved over the last decades and what is critical for success in this role?- How the HR leader of today positively impacts ESG initiatives within an organisation.-How the field of hospitality can be seen as providing hope, by making a difference and providing opportunities within the community that it operates in.- How Hilton's employee resource groups and similar communities have made an impact on the local and global level.- The importance of collaborative strategy at Hilton to tackle problems faced and addre

In this week’s podcast, our CEO Leila McKenzie-Delis speaks to Philip Hoggarth, CEO of Communisis and President of OSG EuropeHere’s what they discuss:- Philip's background and journey including the factors that led him to his current roles and drive his passion for business for good and the employee experience- How his personal life and journey has shaped him as a leader including his work ethic and discovering himself as a person- How Philip's goal of transforming Communisis and his D&I goals aligns with his signing the CEO Activist pledge- Talking about change, the right career and making leaps of faith in order to move forward- The needs of employees and how to engage with them and create a purpose for people beyond the fabric of the space that they work in- The importance of creating a feeling of community at work that is greater than the 9-to-5- The changing nature of Diversity and Inclusion and the importance of leading from the top authentically, with conviction and belief to create a las

This week Leila has a conversation with Kalvinder Dhillon, Vice Chair, Tax, Deloitte UK, NSE Deloitte Board MemberWhat you'll hear about:

According to Harvard Health Publishing, neurodiversity includes the many ways that people experience and interact with the world around them - there is no one correct way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not a weakness.This week's podcast features Martin McKay, CEO of Texthelp with our CEO Leila McKenzie-Delis.

In this week’s podcast, our CEO Leila McKenzie-Delis speaks to Kelly Beaver, Chief Executive, UK and Ireland, Ipsos Mori.Here’s what they discuss:

In this week’s podcast, our CEO Leila McKenzie-Delis has a conversation with Serhat Ekinci, Managing Director of Unite, Omnicom Media Group.Here’s what they discuss:

This week Leila has a conversation with Astrid Sundberg, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Oda.What you'll hear about:Astrid's story and her personal and professional journey including her work with global companies, early foray into senior leadership, single parenthood, international transitions and lived experiencesGender discrimination and speaking out, the importance of mental health and wellbeing and the need to not hold things together behind a glossy facadeInclusion and Belonging - the differences below the surface in contrast to what is visiblePrivilege awareness as a reality check and the need to speak about individual privilege more openly without feeling defensive The evolutionary scale of privilege means that we might never understand every single experience of everyone, however empathy goes a long way in learning, developing and growing as leaders and peopleAllyship exists across different dimensionsThe importance of a sense of humour in breaking down barriersThe importance of chal

Today Leila is talking to  Loren I. Shuster, Chief People Officer and Head of Corporate Affairs at The Lego Group.Learn more about :Loren's personal and professional story including his journey from a Canadian community to an international life and family and how that has shaped successThe blending of different family cultures and how it shapes leadership styles and valuesThe importance of curiousity in understanding yourself and others and to begin engaging with D&I issuesThe importance of honesty and authenticity for the culture of an organisationHow The Lego Group inspires and develops leaders of tomorrow and their key priorities in D&I to change and transformHow The Lego Group highlights business for good by using different foundational aspects to support and engage the communityChallenges that organisations face if they don't have a focus on ESGContinue the conversation on LinkedIn

Today Leila is talking to Zephaniah Chukwudum, Business Manager to CEO at Microsoft UKLEARN MORE ABOUT:Zephaniah's personal experiences of culture and racismthe power of allyship, from school agethe D&I journey at Microsoft and the evolution of their ERG'sWhat does culture mean? What 'normal' values define the meaning of culture and what are the actual lived experiences?How being black can be weaponised and make you feel disadvantaged within the corporate worldWhy are ERG's and representation not only important now, but for future generations and what can we learn from themAll good things take time and effort, you can't run an ERG without time and effort but it's a growth process. You have to prove to others that there is something worthwhile joining in with. Be consistent and show up so people see you. Pick 1 or 2 simple things and start there, don't try to do it all immediately. Choose 1 or 2 things and do them well. FURTHER RESOURCES:https://www.linkedin.com/in/z