91: A conversation on enabling culture change with Ricky Forde, Senior Director, EMEA Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, FTI Consulting

It has not been long since the PR/Comms Industry started to be conscious about the impact of inherent racism, prejudice and discrimination on employees from black, and ethnic minority groups. Moving from talk to taking action for change has been painfully slow. It is important to acknowledge that organisations in the industry are at different stages of the journey. Some have been quicker to authentically address issues to reflect their values and also recognise it as a business resilience and sustainability challenge. To get a sense of the work being done by agencies, I recently spoke with Ricky Forde, Senior Director, EMEA Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). Interestingly Ricky is also FTI’s first DEIB lead and has a track record as a culture change expert. Key topics covered in this podcast include: 👉🏾 His career graph and his role as DEIB lead at FTI Consulting 👉🏾 We discussed the apparent fatigue around diversity, equity & inclusion issues; the burning platform metaphor👉🏾 What orgs can do and are doing to address the disproportionate impact of global events on disadvantaged and underrepresented groups👉🏾 BAME, BME, PoC, Global Majority, DEI, DEIB, DIB - are acronyms critical building block or is it taking attention away from the bigger task at hand👉🏾 Groupism, fair pay, and equitable hiring practices👉🏾 Representation as a tick box; equity and belonging for culture change👉🏾 Importance of cultural intelligence for designing relevant solutionsWe also spoke about the challenges and opportunities for the industry in the short term and long term, biases, micro aggressions, the Elephant in the room, his reading list: ‘Allies’ (Darling Kindersley), ‘How not to be strong amongst; (Alex Scott) other thingsTo listen, head to the podcast 

Om Podcasten

The Elephant in the Room Podcast is a curated safe space to have uncomfortable conversations about the pervasive inequalities in society and our workplaces. The idea of the podcast was born from my sense of conflict about identity, self and the concept of privilege and fuelled by my own need to understand how my overlapping identities and experiences had impacted and would continue to impact my life chances. Two years ago I decided to ‘opt out’ to find my own purpose and focus on passion projects including learning about the systemic biases that are endemic in business and society. The Podcast is my very own listening project, a step towards being more intentional in my learning. The Elephant in the Room Podcast is for people who want to be a part of the change, for those who want to step up & speak out, for those who want to learn more about biases, barriers and best practice, for business leaders and for individuals, anyone who is interested in a fairer, more inclusive and compassionate society and workplace. Each week I will interview inspiring speakers from across the world on issues that are taboo and deserve to be mainstream including(but not limited to) systemic and institutionalised racism, discrimination based on further eight protected characteristics, poverty, mental health, climate change. The podcast will also talk about cognitive inclusion, culture, purpose, ethics and the importance of empathy, cultural intelligence and how conversations on identity and disadvantage would be incomplete without considering intersectionality. With the podcast I hope to share stories of people with lived experiences, stories that may have never been told, stories that galvanise us to take action for change and keep the conversations alive by raising the decibel on issues of inequity, inequality in our search for a fairer and more inclusive world.