IR Global Amsterdam 2019 – Diversity Panel

Following the recent IR Global conference, I am grateful for the kind and compassionate messages that I have received as a result of the closing diversity panel interview.

I’m particularly humbled and grateful to my colleagues for sharing their personal stories.

As panellists, we have been messaged by numerous people, many of whom we have never met; I thank you all for your understanding and kind words. And although the panel might have been a professional setting, we weren’t being interviewed for a professional matter, but telling our stories. There was no right or wrong answer.

These stories – together with my own – were recalled as if they happened yesterday; a raw, and harrowing (in places) recollection of the emotion and trauma we went through at different stages of our lives and careers.

For some us, the trauma is still nearby, but with experience, (not age!) and wisdom, we are more able to handle them in a different way. 

In the last two weeks since the conference, I have been travelling in Australia for another conference and workshop events. A different time-zone often allows me time out to think about things and re-align my view.

I have had time to chew over the panel discussion, so here are some of our collective takeaways:

1. We are all human: there may be more beneath the surface than at first glance.
2. Treat others as you wish to be treated, irrespective of race, gender, sexuality and religion.
3. The junior members of the firms we represent are those who need our support. They may feel they carry a heavy responsibility on their shoulders to conform to a certain perceived ‘accepted’ look.
4. It’s ok to not be ok. Take time out, re-assess. The problem or issues in front of us at that time will appear different post-event and following support of those around us.

Also on behalf of my co-panellists Jessica Brown Wilson and Rachida el Johari, I want to thank you. We remain open to helping others.

 

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Contributing Advisors