A Saudi revolution in convoluted times
“It’s a good time to be a woman in Saudi Arabia,” said the CEO of a bank over dinner at Riyadh’s fashionable Cipriani restaurant. She – for it was a she – is not alone in thinking that. In fact, the most senior role in the Saudi diplomatic service, Ambassador to Washington, is held by Princess Reema Al Saud, another foreign educated female in her 40s.
A policy including transport subsidies, childcare support and employer incentives for hiring women has resulted in the proportion of Saudi women in work doubling in only four years to 33 percent, exceeding the 27 percent average for the Middle East and North Africa, notes the IMF.
Why the Benefits of Age Diversity Need to be Shouted from the Rooftops
Age has been in the news.
In the UK, we just celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of our queen, now 96-years old, and still delivering value in the workplace. In her case, that happens to be the balcony on Buckingham Palace.
In the US we have the oldest man to be sworn in as President at age 78. At age 29, Joe Biden was one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate. He may be domestically unpopular - hugely unpopular – but I am not alone in being grateful that an experienced statesman is in charge during the biggest crisis to face the West since the Cold War.
Quantum Matters – Quantum Culture
“You think you are the messiahs!” cries out Lily, the super-hero of BBC series Devs, to the bosses in charge of the secretive quantum unit.
That slur can just as easily be applied to the Big Tech chiefs, who started out with missions encapsulated in Google’s motto “Do no evil,” yet proceeded to abuse their monopolistic powers, promote addictive behaviours and allow hate speech to flourish.
Artificial Intelligence and bookcases
Humans host over 140 cognitive biases. These range from excessive reliance on the printed or digital word to confirmation bias – the tendency to recall information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs. How, labouring under such a bias burden, can companies overcome the human factor to create a more inclusive and diverse world?
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, and the advances that have been made in the corporate world, it is worth noting that not everyone believes that we are prone to prejudices (the brain’s use of shortcuts to help us deal with days filled with stimulation and choices). Only last month at a town hall virtual meeting of KPMG UK staff, Bill Michael said that discrimination caused by unconscious bias was “complete and utter crap.” The consulting firm’s Chairman has since resigned.
Letter to Hugh
The Inclusion Initiative & a better world
Darling Hugh,
You saved me from isolation and irrelevance when we met at The Hotchkiss School in 1981. A bit of eurotrash from Madrid, raised in Dictator Franco’s traditional Spain, I was lost amid all the preppies in that Connecticut boarding school. You offered me your beautiful (like all of you) hand in friendship and I survived my oddity, with the help of our escape once a term for wild nights at Studio 54 in New York.
What I never realised till recently is how deeply you affected my life, all the way up to the present day. I thought the personal motivation for being a Diversity & Inclusion campaigner came from being a woman and an immigrant in the City. You, in fact were the springboard. Although I had guessed, it took a year for you to tell me you were gay, out of fear that I would turn away in disgust as others had. Your East Coast establishment upbringing did not help.
The City’s New Face
Does it matter what the chattering classes are talking about? From the 1970s, column inches and speeches were dominated by Chicago economist Milton Friedman and the principle that companies should focus on shareholder returns and forget about suppliers, customers and community – they would benefit tangentially.