Jazzy Caddy - Notes From the Red Tees

Not everyone with a disability will have the aspiration – or nerves of steel - to tee off at Wentworth in the Golf for the Disabled (G4D) event within the BMW PGA Championships but England Disabled Golf Association (EDGA) are on a mission to evolve the game from development and inclusion at grass roots to the Elite players you’ll see at a G4D event. I, and RSM, are huge supporters of what EDGA is trying to achieve. It even resulted in me being lucky enough to caddy for the #mswarrior Aimi Bullock, at St Omer Golf Club at the French Disability Open in France. It was during that long journey to France we discussed some of the bigger challenges facing us in our chosen fields EDGA Development (Aimi) and Head of Transactions (me!)

It started with a reflection on how RSM’s, and my, involvement with EDGA has helped develop and shape not just my own career, but the careers of those just joining the profession, and what it has brought back to our business:

• It’s inclusiveness – something we can all learn from (I’ve posted about it!)
• Innovation – how players adapt their game, their swing, and how they make the tools they have work for them
• Great results are achieved in many different ways, it doesn’t have to be one way or the way it has always been done???
• The importance of role models, and how a large organisation can give people a platform and create role models to develop those behind them??

This led Aimi, who volunteers for the EDGA development team, and I, onto the bigger challenge which faces us both:?gender diversity.?The St Omer tournament was notable because, out of the 59 entrants, for the first time eight (13.5%) of them were female.?That is a big step forward. But… and there is a but… for disabled golf to meet its aspirations to make golf an official sport in the Paralympics where female participation is a fundamental criteria -?it still has a long way to go.?

This resonates with me. I work in transactions – which spans both corporate finance and restructuring advisory work. It’s profession which I love and in which I have proved women can be successful. But…there’s another but! There remains a similar and stark imbalance. There is no reason, or logic, for it to be unique, or unusual, to be successful, and female, in my profession.

Whilst I believe RSM does as well, if not better, than a great deal of our competition.?The bar is low. ?The industry has some of the worst gender diversity in financial services. ?As I said to my team (in slightly stronger terms!) at our recent national conference - we don’t aspire to be better than poor in anything else: we need, and want, to aim higher and be the standard to which the profession aspires!

So, why are women so under-represented in my profession? Well, both EDGA and my profession face the same main issue: raw ingredients.?We both need to change the inputs.?At RSM, we take around 60 graduates into our Transactions business a year – around 10% of the total intake of the firm.?However, unlike the rest of the firm, only 25% of applicants are female vs an almost 50:50 split elsewhere. EDGA have taken steps to address this.?So what could I learn from them: ?

• Have a voice at the industry body table – EDGA sent two women to the R&A’s ‘Women in Golf Leadership Development Programme’ which provides training to women around the world aspiring to be leaders in the golf sector. This has had an immediate impact in raising awareness and action on disabled golf across Europe.?We are looking at our roles within the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) and Level 20, and R3 (the trade body of the restructuring profession) to make sure that RSM are front and centre of driving the diversity agenda and that Diversity is front of their minds!
• Celebrate role models – players like @daphnevanhouten playing on a world stage amongst the world’s elite disabled athletes at the DP World and G4D tournaments and the UK’s finest disabled golfers? playing alongside Ladies European tour athletes at the excellent Rose Ladies Series are just some of the ways EDGA has been raising their profile.?Whilst we don’t have anything quite so glamorous, we do have a female lead of our Transactions business - albeit celebrating myself is a bit awkward(!) - and R3 has had several female presidents, and its current CEO is female (@carolinesumner). I have also had amazing role models throughout my career, and we need to make more of a splash.
• Sharing stories – I have learnt a lot from Aimi’s work from sharing her story and journey with MS. It has given other people the confidence to open-up about their experiences and has inspired other women with the condition to get involved with EDGA.?It has helped me understand how her condition impacts her, how I can support her and how I can help drive change at my own golf club.?It occurred to me that we are shy about sharing our stories.?I certainly never used to share mine outside of the people who worked around me. It is time, I think, for women everywhere, and those already working in the profession, to step into the light. ?
• I have had an incredible career and amazing experiences.?I’ve worked with innovative and inspiring clients, experienced the adrenaline rush of deals closing, and the pride of developing and supporting others to become partners at RSM.?As I know from my time with Aimi it’s important that we don’t sugar coat the journey. Our experiences won’t all be good, but they can, and do, drive change – though the days of networking drinks being served by waitresses in gold bikinis are, thankfully, a long way in the past. Sharing experiences - and challenging behaviours - encourages a culture of allyship and inclusion.

Finally, if when someone asks you to picture an M&A or Restructuring adviser or a Private Equity investor and you immediately picture a man then it’s time to explode that unconscious bias.?At RSM we are on a mission to help you.?

#lifeatRSM #Womanup #Golfforeveryone #genderdiversity #Level20 #privateequity #thisgirlcan