EDI - Wow! Where did that emotion come from?

Just recently, we held our first in person STEP – Advising Families Across Generations Branch Chairs Assembly for four years. A fabulous event with around 150 of STEP’s volunteer leaders from across the globe – with over 40 countries represented.

As I have done many times before at conferences and other events I was giving a presentation on STEP’s strategy. A key component of our strategy is ‘Empowering our People’: our commitment to our volunteers, members and staff including our work on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Out of nowhere I was suddenly dealing with a huge surge of emotion and wasn’t sure that I would get through to the end of the presentation. What was that all about?

Having done the presentation so many times before, I was just unprepared for what hit me. It was the sudden and very real emotion of why I got involved in EDI. So let me share that story with you.

Those in the audience who don’t know much about my background will have seen a white, middle aged, middle class CEO stood in front of them. All true. What they won’t have seen or have understood is that the same person also came from a different background and has regularly over the years felt in some part ‘other’.

My background is definitely working class. The family tree shows a long line of farm labourers and household servants. My two grandfathers were a gas fitter and a chauffeur/gardener. My father was apprenticed as a glass cutter/fitter before he joined the army on National Service. In those days, a mum kept house and looked after children – and mine did an exceptional job at that. We weren’t poor, though at times my father worked part-time jobs to supplement his army wage and mum took up a part-time job to help the household budget once I was at school. Pocket money had to be earned and then Saturday jobs became the norm as I reached teenage years.

I got into a good state school and I had a great education, but while most were heading to university that just didn’t feature in my plans as no-one in my family had ever been and the aspiration was not there. It marked me out as different, even at that stage. I left school at 18 having failed my A levels. That certainly was different at my school! My fault entirely, as I just didn’t engage in my last two years. My parents (with wisdom and kindness) said not to worry as I had learned many life lessons and had secured a job (with a bank), so the exams didn’t really matter.

So, into banking I went. I was lucky that my branch manager asked me on day two whether I was in this for a job or a career. I didn’t really understand the difference then but thought career sounded better and on hearing this he told me to get registered at the local college to start my banking exams. Thank you Mr Corrin, that was the best bit of advice I had. Little did he know that what I was really looking forward to was all the sport I could play on bank time!

My first roles involved working in the back office of a branch where I was surrounded by women. Lovely, friendly, helpful people who also teased the eighteen-year-old boy with glasses and spots quite mercilessly. You should also know that my name was also something of a burden at this time. Thanks to Del Boy Trotter and the TV show Only Fools and Horses the catchphrase ‘What a Wally’ was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. I was more than happy that at college Andrew Pratt was the name before mine in the register…

I started to progress at work a little quicker than some of my peers. That was driven by not wanting to let my parents down again and partly by always wanting to do things right and the best I could (it’s the name thing again). One of the worst things you can do in the UK is ‘better’ – that can make you a target. So, I would find myself justifying to my peers why I was progressing (and no, it wasn’t because I played sport) while at the same time being told by my managers that because I didn’t have a degree and was still to finish my banking exams there would be a cap on my progress.

Now all this might sound quite minor compared to what others face and in so many ways that is absolutely true. However, that sense of ‘other’, that sense of exclusion, really bothered me and I wanted to make sure that I did all I could so that no-one else felt the same way. I found myself seeking to include people at every opportunity, especially where their background was less ‘standard’ than others. When ‘EDI’ arrived in the corporate world many years ago, I found I had something that I wanted to be part of. Inclusion is my focus along with social mobility. I use my role to speak on the topic and help create change when I can. I just can’t bear to think that others should feel ‘other’, no matter their difference.

So how did that young person get to be a CEO? I’m still not sure myself some day. Maybe last week was one of those days. But I do know really. It was because every time I felt excluded or different I decided to do something about it. I would ask for feedback and challenge when I felt I was being fobbed off with false responses. I would call out where I felt that the data was saying one thing and the actions were doing another. I also learned to let go of things that were bothering me but weren’t really an issue for others. Why should I worry about what others might think – after all, they might not think that, and even if they did, what did I really care

As with many in similar roles, I have my moments of imposter syndrome. But I have learned over time that I am emphatically not an imposter. I threw myself into professional education because I saw it as a way to advance my knowledge and with that I could do a better job. I also gained a degree – partly to prove (to myself) that I could and partly because it was helpful to the job I was doing. ?But don’t get me started on job descriptions that too easily say ‘degree required’ when there is no earthly reason why someone would need a degree to do the job or that it would have been gained so long ago that it can have no bearing on how the person might perform in the role……

Like everyone, I have my biases and I do my best to manage them. Like everyone involved in EDI work, I sometimes get things wrong and wish I knew a better way. But one thing I have learned is that unless you try to make a difference nothing changes. A little bit of positive intent and action can go a long way.

So, that’s why I got emotional. And that story is also why it didn’t overwhelm me.