Authority on lived experiences and unmet needs among seldom-heard groups in the UK. Helping leaders identify and prioritise opportunities to reduce inequalities and deliver positive social impacts. MRS Main Board member.
It’s 2024. Time for a fresh start. Time for a reboot. It’s fair to say that ‘world peace’ is unlikely to be achieved this year. But perhaps this makes it even more important to think about what might we do differently to be a force for good in challenging times, whatever our scope and role. I thought about this over the festive season, as news from around the world were grim. There was less money to go around in our house this year. But I decided to get involved in fundraising, campaigned for causes that are close to my heart, and listened to people who hold very different views from my own. I sang carols in a community centre for people who would not have had much of a Christmas at all without the delicious meal and music provided. I invited people of all ages - from 15 to 85 - to dance and usher in the New Year and was surprised and uplifted by the fact that they all knew the lyrics to Paul Simon, Tina Turner or Kool & the Gang! We had more in common than I had assumed. I worked on restoring hedges - a precious green communal asset that had been abandoned for years. Very small things. But they all felt good. And then I wondered how to keep this going, scale this a little, and take it to a professional environment. Could we all, for instance: Involve more diverse people in important conversations about what they want and need, and listen more deeply? Create opportunities to experience the world through someone else’s eyes, challenge our assumptions, and allow ourselves to feel empathy? Find ‘critical friends’, open ourselves up to their views, and embrace difficult conversations so we can all learn and grow? Review our habits, our ways of working, our work friends, our products and services to ensure that we serve better those least included and most vulnerable? Make it a habit to consider - and anticipate - the likely impacts on our individual and corporate behaviours in terms of social justice, inclusion and equity? Look for the goals that cannot be achieved without different parties coming together and collaborating to achieve them - and share in their benefits? Find one cause that’s closely aligned with our corporate and personal values, mission and purpose, where we can make a positive and meaningful difference, and support this whole-heartedly, sustainably, over time? This is a note to self as much as anything else. But for me personally and professionally, the recent relaunch of VERSITI - with its focus on helping organisations grow and succeed by playing a more inclusive and equitable role - is the main way in which I hope to contribute, in modest ways, to making the world a little bit better and fairer. I hope you will join me and have a rewarding 2024, leaving the world a tiny bit better for 2025 than we found it today! #inclusion #impact #equity #insights #empathy #inequalities #participation #innovation #fairness #antidiscrimination #socialreturn #SROI #2024opportunities #2024goals #joyfuljourneys
