The CEO Activist

9Where Are You Really From?

It's a very strange thing, being a minority member in the UK. As I told you when we embarked on this journey together, I was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents who gave me up for adoption, so I was raised by White British parents, and lived in the UK for most of my life. While I could not be more grateful for the opportunity that afforded me, being of Chinese heritage in a White country has had a profound effect on me.

When we think about diversity in the UK – it's racial diversity that most people assume we're talking about. Now hopefully we can educate people to know that there are nine other facets of inclusion we should be looking at as well – but there's no question but that racial inequality is still a big part of the puzzle.

So let's start with our work at DIAL Global. Every year we produce the DIAL Global Diversity Review, examining how UK and US organisations are faring according to our metrics.

In 2023, looking at the facet of Race and Ethnicity, we identified the following. Five out of six UK companies say they have at least one member from a Black, South or East Asian or other minority ethnic background on their leadership team. That's 81%, up from 58% last year. A similar number say they include ethnic diversity in leadership succession planning (80%, up from 65%),

We reported that 2023 has seen a “sustained effort on race and ethnicity of many participating UK companies”, with significantly more saying they have stated initiatives ...