Diverse & Inclusive Leaders

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Roisin Mackenzie, Chief People officer at Saga PLC"But ultimately it's it's all about back to listen to your colleagues - How are they feeling? What are they telling you? Because they will tell you if a culture is off, they will tell you if they don't feel like you've got an inclusive culture. So you have to focus on culture as much as you do your processes, diversity and who who you bringing in. If you haven't worked hard enough on making sure that culture is safe, inclusive, that people feel like they can get on, they can feel seen, they can feel themselves, leaders understand what it is, you're pushing water up a hill."You'll hear about:- Roisin's career journey and how she progressed to become Chief People Officer at Saga PLC- How the evolution of the role of the people function, ESG and diversity, inclusion and belonging has played out over the last decade- Saga's

Our third CEO Activist episode features a conversation between Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global and Paul Gerrard, Campaigns, Public Affairs & Board Secretariat Director at the Co-op Group, Board Director at Co-ops UK and Trustee of the Co-operative Heritage Trust.Paul played a role in shaping what the CEO Activist campaign looks like today especially when it comes to the convening power of the initiative when it comes to business and policymakers."A partnership between government, local or central, and business is critical. If you want to help communities prosper then businesses have a critical role to play alongside governments."You'll hear about- Paul's strong family background and tightly-knit community which played a large role in shaping his worldview- Why Paul believes that the intersection between business and the government has such an important and crucial role to play in today's modern world- The history of the Coop and what makes its sense of communi

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Katherine Griffiths, the City Editor at Bloomberg."But it is the case still that I think in news in particular, it's a problem. If a parent needs to be out of the office, take time off. And I think it's got something to do with the very nature of the job, which is sometimes things need to be done immediately."You'll hear about:- A whistlestop tour of Katherine's life including her career history through various newspapers- Parenthood, particularly her experience of it in the workplace and what's needed for parents to be able to navigate the complexities of working and parenting in a world where gender roles meet company practices- The importance of investing in talent that exists within the organisation to prevent women within the organisation from hitting the glass ceiling- The evolution of how talent flows into an organisation, and how important closing off the opportunity gap is- Time o

Our second CEO Activist episode features a conversation between Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global and Stephanie Mehta, Chief Executive and Chief Content Officer of Mansueto Ventures.'I think that good now in in my new role looks like creating a place where people really do feel like they are empowered to do their best work and empowered to say when there is something that is preventing them from being able to do their best work.'You'll hear about- Stephanie's rich and vibrant career which includes names like Fortune Magazine, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal and a work history that starts with journalism school in Chicago and an internship in Virginia with a newspaper chain that went out of its way to remove barriers for students of colour.-  Her early life including immigrant parents from different cultures, who were extremely supportive of her choices, her work ethic,  and her experiences with growing up as an Asian-American which led to her awareness of race.- Ho

In this week’s podcast, Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global speaks to Ruben Alejandro Ramirez, the group head of Diversity and Inclusion for Syngenta Group"it all starts by understanding the space. For example, we have a global pride campaign as an entire group. However, we understand that in some places, this is illegal. So what we are trying to do this year is to have a low pressure campaign for those countries where pride is accepted and LGBTQ community is accepted, but then have our Respect campaign for the countries where we are not able sometimes even to speak about the topic."You'll hear about:- A whistlestop tour of Ruben' life including his heritage, international education and career, which is also how he met his husband, his passion for customer strategy  and how he ended up in D&I- Intersectionality, and how being a part of the LGBT community also helped him understand other underrepresented groups and showed him how to connect to people, to relate, and mak

Our first ever CEO Activist podcast kicks off with a fascinating conversation between Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO and Founder of DIAL Global and  Shirine Khoury-Haq, Group CEO at Co-op. "In terms of activism from a from a CEO perspective it is important to be authentic and to really determine what it is that's important to you, that you feel you can actually stand up and talk about with credibility, both inside your own organization, to be able to effect the change within one's own organization, but also outside, whether it's in government or in media or other other places." You'll hear about: - Shirine's upbringing including being a world traveller at a very young age thanks to her father's job and growing up in a multi-faith household to her own professional career which included multiple roles in multiple industries - The culture and the history of the council and the importance of organisations and CEOs to really be following the values and purpose - The reason behind

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: