8 March 2021    By Alison Maitland

It’s apt that this year’s International Women’s Day theme is #ChooseToChallenge. Even though there are some milestones to celebrate, the journey towards gender and other forms of equity faces troublesome obstacles and there is plenty ahead to challenge. I see two big threats to hard-won progress, one driven by the economic and social fallout of Covid-19, the other by prejudice and ignorance.  Continue reading →

13 Sept 2020     By Alison Maitland

BY MOST ACCOUNTS, we are moving into a new era of work. For those who typically worked in an office, the Covid-19 crisis has tipped the balance decisively in favour of workplace flexibility.

The knowledge workforce of the future looks set to be much more ‘distributed’ – located partly in offices, partly at home, and partly in other places.

How can leaders and managers take inclusive action to get the best from all their people in this fast-changing environment? Continue reading →

13 July 2020  By Alison Maitland

The economic crisis caused by the global pandemic risks reinforcing inequalities around the world. What needs to be done to prevent this and to stop the pockets of progress of recent decades from being reversed? It is an urgent question that needs radical responses.

Current trends demonstrate the interconnectedness of systemic challenges, showing overlapping disadvantages linked to gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. Continue reading →

26 June 2020 INdivisible cited in Germany’s ada magazine

INdivisible, which I co-wrote with Rebekah Steele, was featured in an article about diversity and inclusion by journalist Alexandra Borchardt in the German magazine ‘ada’, which focuses on the digital world. Borchardt quoted our argument that it’s not enough for organisations to tick the ‘diversity numbers’ box, and that the work of inclusion goes much deeper and wider. Here’s the excerpt, translated from the German: Continue reading →

17 May 2020       By Alison Maitland

‘WE WILL get through this together, but only if we stick together, so please be strong and be kind.’ This was one of the messages that have elevated Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, to the widely conferred status of one of the world’s best leaders during the Covid-19 crisis.

The pandemic has highlighted the gulf between good and bad leadership, and the difference it makes, in this case to people’s very survival. Continue reading →

29 April 2020 What can leaders learn from the Covid-19 crisis about how to make organisations more human in the digital age? I offer three answers to build and sustain inclusive work environments in this article for the Octave Programme’s web magazine. You can read this and other pieces written by me and my co-author Rebekah Steele about our book INdivisible here.