Introducing Working Voices D&I lead, Chico Chakravorty
Written by Working Voices • 14 November, 2024
Culture, Diversity & Ethics Article
If you find yourself approaching Diversity and Inclusion with a level of trepidation, squinting at it from behind your fingers, you’re not alone. Not all leaders have been able to keep up with the fast pace of change in the D&I landscape in recent years. For those feeling a little overwhelmed by the dull thud of missed D&I targets, Working Voices consultant and D&I lead Chico Chakravorty has a few suggestions on how to get back on track.
D&I is no longer a soft voice calling from the wings. Reinvigorated by international demands for social justice and racial equality, D&I has proudly stepped into the limelight.
The Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements brought new momentum to the fight against old injustices. At the same time came broader understanding of non-binary identities. Then came the pandemic, bringing fear, recession and new expectations of empathy and tolerance that in part have permanently changed the way we work. In 2021, there is a new level of understanding in business.
These shifts in empathy and tolerance have prompted many businesses to re-examine and ramp up their diversity and inclusion initiatives for 2021/22. D&I has seized the centre stage and is influencing all areas of business. In support of this trend, Working Voices has hired consultant Chico Chakravorty in a new strategic D&I role.
“People don’t want to say the wrong thing”
It’s a damp day in Chiswick and I’m about to meet Chico for the first time. We’ve had to delay, twice, for Covid-related reasons, but finally we’re underway. He’s warm, smiley and easy to talk to – which is just as well, I have plenty of questions.
Chico, who has a degree in music and an MBA from Durham University Business School, isn’t what I was expecting. I imagined that a smouldering familiarity with injustice would spark fire and brimstone, peppered with references to the slow pace of change. Instead, Chico’s genuine concern for leaders and the challenges they face is clear. “Intrinsically, I believe that people are good”, he explains, “they don’t want to say the wrong thing, they don’t want to do the wrong action or start something that might only feel tokenistic. But this comes with a great deal of discomfort many leaders aren’t ready to face head on.”
Sharing a few thoughts on his background, Chico explains that his passion for music stems from a number of different sources: “As someone from an Indian background and as someone who realised fairly young that they were a gay male, music gave me an ability to escape what society expected me to be when I was studying at a selective all boys school that was very much about high academic performance and sporting excellence.”
After university, Chico worked in a range of sectors, among them the performing arts, insurance, health and not-for-profit. As the managing director of a Diversity and Inclusion firm, he developed an expertise in consultancy, and he currently sits on the strategic advisory board of an LGBT+ start-up. “I’ve worked with many clients”, Chico says, “where the leadership have said we don’t know what it is that we can do on this”. So, how did he help them?
The hardest part in addressing D&I challenges is “taking that first step”, Chico says. He encourages leaders to embrace vulnerability and accept the fact that they’re going to get things wrong. “Actually failure can be a great thing to learn from”, he explains.
When working with clients, Chico begins by speaking to as many people within the organisation as he can, with the aim of understanding their specific experience. From there, he recommends a range of solutions – such as training, consulting, or engagement sessions – each designed to help individuals get the assistance they need.
Chico helps to empower people, for example by supporting employee network resource groups, where individuals within an organisation – with disabilities for example – come together in mutual support. Similarly, he might advocate a women’s equality group, helping them develop a target-driven 12-month strategic plan.
Diversity, in some respects, has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. Forty years ago, just 50% of US women aged 25 to 54 participated in the workforce. By 2014, that number had increased to 75%, according to the US Council of Economic Advisers. Yet even today, for the vast majority of these women, middle management remains the end of the road. According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), among the CEOs of the 2015 S&P 1500 there were more men named John than there were women. In looking at ethnicity in the UK, there is not one single Black CEO, CFO or Chair of a FTSE 100 company, according to a 2021 study by consultants Green Park.
Diversity pays dividends, literally. A global study of more than 21,000 companies by the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that as companies increased the number of female board members, their profit margins climbed by 15%. According to research by software developer Cloverpop, diverse teams made better business decisions 87% of the time.
Businesses seeking to leverage diversity sometimes struggle to know which D&I initiatives they need. The BCG found that “many organizations simply don’t know which measures are most effective. Companies invest money to launch programs, but they aren’t diligent about tracking results.”
For Chico, this gets to the nub of the problem. He finds that many leaders are not sure whether their D&I strategies are resolving the challenges they face, and if not what they should do about it. In the meantime, targets go unmet, and neither diversity nor inclusion are properly implemented.
Under the surface, Chico is looking at D&I issues within an organisation from two perspectives. What he refers to as ‘demographic diversity’ stems from the tick-box forms that joiners fill in, providing information on their racial background, gender identity, sexual orientation etc.
Beyond the data-gathering, Chico is keen to look at ‘cognitive diversity’ which asks questions about background, upbringing, personal and professional networks, and experience. For example, in looking at which university someone went to it might be instructive to ask what it was about their background that enabled them to get there.
In all circumstances, the key thing for Chico is making sure that people in positions of power are genuine about doing the work that’s needed. He says “you may well find that people don’t necessarily have the core desire to do the difficult work.” Comprehensive D&I strategies may be more commonplace these days. But Chico warns that if leaders don’t believe in them, the dull thud of missed targets might just linger a little longer.
Working Voices consultants across the UK, the Americas and Asia can help you with expert advice on Diversity and Inclusion. For more information, see our range of D&I courses.
Prefer eLearning? Take a look at our D&I courses available on our Learnflix platform.
Get our latest insights by subscribing to our newsletter. Each week you'll receive updates helping you to understand and respond to the challenges facing your organisation. We won't share your details with anyone and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Learn to tackle the day-to-day challenges faced by women in the workplace with confidence, control and conviction.
This fast-paced interactive talk delivered by our motivational keynote speakers provides insight on how women can communicate with more impact and how they can develop within a leadership role by enhancing their personal presence. Our women’s speakers aim to help you build the confidence to be included in meetings, and raise your visibility as an authentic and influential leader. This talk can be tailored to your business and any specific requirements you might have.
The founder and CEO of Working Voices, Nick Smallman has been at the top of his profession for 25 years. Advising global blue-chip clients on engagement, productivity, and retention, he counsels leaders on increasing revenue via simple cultural adjustments.
Overseeing the successful expansion of Working Voices across the UK, the US, Asia, and the Middle East, Nick supports the leadership and communication capabilities of clients in a wide range of sectors. In particular, he has advised companies such as JP Morgan, Barclays, Sony, Nomura, M&S, and Blackrock for more than 15 years.
Developing his reputation for thought leadership, in recent years Nick has been leading work on The Sustainable Human, the subject of his forthcoming book. A concept unique to Working Voices, The Sustainable Human offers a package of solutions focusing on leadership enablement, future skills, and cultural harmony.
Working closely with HR specialist Mercer, Nick has developed solutions to four key modern workplace challenges:
“I’m excited to share the conclusions of three years of research that, if implemented, can make an immediate practical difference to leaders and their organisations.”
All articles by Nick Smallman
Our motivating keynote speakers will help you to gain an understanding of how you present yourself to others and how they identify with you. You’ll also gain an understanding of how influence and the development of a personal brand can enhance your impact. In this enthusing talk our expert business speakers will explore the practicalities and techniques involved in developing a suitable personal brand and creating a strong personal impact.
Networking skills are important for achieving success in business. This talk delivered by our engaging keynote speakers will provide you with an insight into good networking etiquette. Our business speakers will focus on understanding the importance of networking, how to plan and prep before an event. You’ll learn some good tips for reading group body language and some essential icebreakers to get you started.
Parents all over the world are becoming increasingly worried about the effect of screen use on their children’s mental health. In addition to a lack of understanding as to what they are looking at there is the deeper issue of how online behaviour is shaping the way that children think and form relationships. We unpack the neuroscience behind the addictive nature of screen time and offer a blueprint to help parents coach their children towards a more fruitful relationship with the internet.
The internet is lauded as a giant leap for communication and a vehicle for mass connection in a busy world. What is also becoming clear is the opportunity for bad actors to manipulate important social, cultural and political conversations through the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation. We lay bare the methods that are used to inject confusion and grievance into the conversation and how we as consumers are not naturally wired to combat this. We will offer a framework to help protect you from fake news, distraction and getting sucked in to destructive communication
70% of people will experience a genuine fear of being exposed as not good enough, of being a fraud in their working lives; this talk will help you combat such feelings and deliver practical guidance that will help you feel confident and comfortable when taking on the next big challenge.
In a world dominated by showmen, charismatics and influencers it is becoming more and more difficult to find leaders that are intellectually credible as well as influential. The ability to think critically is being downgraded while the ability to attract attention is lauded. It is possible to do both and we will show how strong mental models can underpin a long-term leadership persona.
The self-help industry is an ever expanding and hugely popular vehicle for personal development. Humans have an innate desire to improve themselves and raise their status – what’s not to love? However, some of the ideas and tropes used in many of the self-help products available rely on flawed thinking to be successful. We explore 6 major themes, deconstruct their effectiveness and relevance in the modern world and provide an alternatives that are more effective.
“Your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos (Founder and Chairman of Amazon) that’s why it matters so much. It’s all about creating the right external impression, ensuring it is authentic and makes you stand out from the crowd. This inspirational talk by our expert keynote speakers will explore the methods, techniques and practises of developing an authentic personal brand that gets you noticed.
Presenting can be a daunting ordeal at the best of times but this highly interactive and fast paced talk will help build your confidence and improve your delivery with any audience. Our keynote speaker will take you through how best to prepare for your big moment, along with helping you look and sound the part as well.
TED Talks can be both informative and inspiring, but how do the best speakers deliver their message with such impact? In this talk, one of our inspiring keynote speakers will walk you through the TED method and help you deliver your very own idea with confidence and precision.
Emotional intelligence is about the ability to identify, assess and manage the emotions of yourself, of others and of groups. Having a high EQ will improve your ability to maintain good working relationships and communicate successfully. This highly interactive talk will give you a practical insight into how emotional intelligence works. Our expert keynote speakers will give you a concise overview of the emotional intelligence know-how and stratagems you need to interact commendably with clients and colleagues.
Making a good impression and having a strong personal presence is an important part of being successful in business and in life. Personal impact is about having presence and charisma. In this engaging talk our motivational keynote speakers will explore what both of these actually mean, what they look like and feel like. We will look at the practicalities of each and punctuate both topics with brief exercises to help you to become more aware of the way you interact with others. This is an exciting and interactive talk which our expert business speakers deliver in an inspirational style.
Successful people are super communicators – they think clearly and are expert at interacting with others. They understand themselves, other people and know that superior relationships are the cornerstone to a fulfilling life These characteristics are learned attributes. Now you can master these skills and behaviours and work towards becoming a super communicator yourself.
Improving your influencing skills is important in helping you to build better rapport and have positive relationships with your clients and colleagues. This fast-paced talk delivered by our expert business speakers helps you to explore and develop your existing influencing skills. Our inspiring keynote speakers will focus on maintaining mental and linguistic flexibility when interpreting and presenting information helping you to become an effective influential leader. Our keynote speakers can adapt this talk to your business needs and requirements if requested.
Our sentiments and feelings towards people are created by our own experiences but we’re not always aware of how those sentiments affect the way we act towards people and make decisions about them. Our engaging keynote speakers will bring to light your unconscious bias in this thought provoking talk: how it works, the affect this has on decision making and most importantly, what you can do about it; making sure you are the inclusive leader you wish to be.