My LinkedIn post from 9 November 2021
“We should stop competing with each other on the future of humanity and start working together like adults.”
So said Paul Polman, campaigner and former Unilever CEO, on BBC Question Time, speaking from the climate change conference in Glasgow.
He was talking about governments and business, though the message applies to us all. Continue reading
My LinkedIn post from 12 Oct 2021
“Inclusion and sustainability are interdependent. Both require global systemic change.”
How can DEI leaders help corporate boards address these burning issues together?
Investors are increasingly focused on companies’ climate goals. This is critical. But more attention must be paid to societal alongside environmental impacts. Progress on each depends on the other. Continue reading
Photo by Tobias Bjørkli from Pexels
By Alison Maitland
As this is the last column I’ll write for the IWE community, I want first to thank and pay a personal tribute to Peta Payne as she steps down.
Those who know the driving force behind IWE (International Women of Excellence) will know how modest she is, never seeking the limelight. They will also know her persuasive power, her ability to harness different people’s strengths for a common purpose, and her determination to support women’s career growth so that businesses and societies flourish by using the best of all the talent. Continue reading
27 July 2021 THERE’S something extraordinary about taking part in a collective challenge with a group of people who have a unifying purpose. 
We feel connected, even to near-strangers. We achieve more than we thought we were capable of. We transcend boundaries that limit us, as I wrote in this LinkedIn post.
My most recent experience of this was on a cancer charity fund-raising trek on the coast of Wales, a challenge made even more enticing by months of pandemic restrictions. It set me thinking about the parallel with building organisations where everyone thrives and gives their best. Continue reading
19 July ’21 By Alison Maitland
Some of us have been saying it for years: achieving gender equity should not be the job of women alone. Indeed, it’s unlikely to happen unless men are deeply involved in driving the change, especially the men who are still the majority in many boardrooms and executive teams.
Why then, given the well-evidenced business benefits of balanced teams and organisations, is it hard for a lot of male executives and managers to engage with the issue? And what can be done about this? Continue reading
LinkedIn post, 6 July 2021 Exciting to see ‘INdivisible’ feature as a top pick in The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2021.
Our book, which radically rethinks inclusion for sustainable business results, is one of the choices of Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, renowned for her deep expertise and ground-breaking work on innovation, leadership and strategy.
Her eclectic reading list also covers books on race in America, China’s environmental health crisis, ways to combat climate change, and finding common ground in divided times. Her work is all about empowering people and making good use of their ideas.
Rebekah Steele and I are honoured that ‘INdivisible’ is included in her summer reading.
LinkedIn post, 21 June 2021
Ouch, and ouch again! A hungry horsefly threatened to spoil a glorious day out with friends in the countryside. Nursing my bites, I wondered what would happen if I switched from feeling sorry for myself and tried on a different perspective.
If you’ve experienced horsefly bites, you’ll know the stings are sharp and then recede, only to blow up later into persistent painful blisters. My choice to reframe them owes much to reading ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book about healing the exploitative relationship between humans and the natural world.
How could I think differently about this horsefly’s unwelcome attentions? Continue reading
LinkedIn Post, 7 June How could we reframe networking to give it a better name? It’s an incredibly important skill. Yet I’ve noticed how often people, especially women, say they feel deeply uncomfortable about it. Networking may be negatively viewed as:
· Asking for a favour, with the risk of rejection
· Having to demonstrate status
· Wasting time because it’s hit and miss
What if we saw it instead as ‘building vital connections’? Rather like trees and their underground networks. As author Peter Wohlleben explains in a Smithsonian Magazine article, Do trees Talk to Each Other?, trees share water and nutrients, communicate, and signal distress via root-and-fungal connections. Continue reading
LinkedIn post, 1 June 2021 How can coaching support people’s actions on climate change? There are so many ways, as I’ve learned from the excellent 12-week Climate Change Coaches course I’ve just completed alongside an inspiring international cohort.
Here are six reflections from my learning:
1. Climate coaching in one form or other is becoming central to leadership coaching.
2. Climate change evokes big emotions. We can hold a safe space for clients to work through eco-anxiety, anger, grief, overwhelm and feelings of powerlessness. Continue reading
25 May 2021 How do we design organisations that inspire, connect and welcome everyone? Community initiatives can teach us a lot. Colinton Tunnel, a former railway tunnel on the outskirts of Edinburgh, used to be grim, dark and scary for the walkers and cyclists who passed through. Read my LinkedIn post about how it was transformed. This photo depicts a small part of the amazing Colinton Tunnel mural.