How can intersectionality take mentoring further and create lasting positive culture change at work?

We’re honoured to be powering Mission INCLUDE – a movement to create truly inclusive cultures at work – in partnership with Oliver Wyman and 10 FTSE 100 companies. So why does it matter anyway and what does it mean to me personally?

Mission INCLUDE is centred on intersectionality – the theory that individuals are made up of all the aspects of their identities interacting with each other, plus the power structures that go hand in hand with them. This multi-faceted position affects an individual’s privilege and perception in, and of, society.

So it stands to reason that trying to tackle diversity by taking just one strand – gender, ethnicity, or LGBT+  is not going to be enough. It’s looking at one tiny element of an individual, pinning them into that box and not looking any further.

It’s a great privilege to be taking our positive work in the field of gender and applying the tried and tested principles in an intersectional way, across companies, and for individuals, groups and networks through specifically designed mentoring schemes and learning circles. We’re working with Oliver Wyman and 10 FTSE 100 companies to change the future for the better, for everyone in it.

You might think that as a female, entrepreneur under 40 I might be categorised as marginalised, a minority. But I would argue that I am in a more privileged position than many white males in their 40s who have additional caring duties at home, or who have mental health issues and an invisible disability.

As our great speaker Professor Michael Kimmel asks – who do you see when you look in the mirror? He says he sees a man. It’s straightforward. But you might see a black woman, or a single father, or perhaps an LGBT+ carer of an elderly parent from an underprivileged background. The important thing here is to recognise we are a sum of our parts, not just a part of the sum.

It is everyone’s incredible mix of influences, approaches and personalities that makes doing business so interesting. And unless we welcome every single individual into the melting pot, we risk pushing away talent, and preventing our clients from getting the best, most well-rounded service.

To find out more about Mission INCLUDE contact me at liz@moving-ahead.org. We’d like to welcome you to join the movement.