“When you start defining diversity in a broader sense, usually you will find a lot of people who are passionate about one element. Maybe they have experienced exclusion because they are a certain age, or have a certain number of years at the company, and they don’t feel like they’re taken seriously or listened too. Getting people engaged in one element is important, and that’s where the wave starts coming and the train leaves the station and can’t go back.”
In Episode 23 I am joined by Kristen Anderson, Vice Chair of European Women on Boards, to discuss the myth of meritocracy, how organisations can start their DEI journey, and how to gather buy-in from employees who may not immediately understand the need for DEI.
Kristen’s background is in Chemical Engineering, spending a lot of her career in the technical side of the food industry, working all over the world for big companies such as Kraft and Coca Cola, leaving her native USA to work in Australia, Germany, and China before settling in Italy. Working for Barilla in Italy, Kristen started her official DEI journey, joining their maiden DEI Board before eventually becoming their Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.
We start our conversation with Kristen offering career advice on how to join the DEI field and make progress. She then offers advice for any organisation on how to start their DEI journey, emphasising to walk before they run. This includes advice on how to get that sought after buy-in from employees who may show hesitance towards DEI initially, by making it clear how inclusion is relevant and beneficial to everyone. Getting people interested in one element of inclusion, whether age, gender or race etc., is the first step to getting them to have a broader understanding.
Since her role at Barilla, Kristen has retired from the food industry and is now the Vice Chair of European Women on Boards – a non-profit focusing on gender diversity in decision making in Europe. We talk about the crucial work that EWoB does, including how they work with men as allies and believe including everyone is key to improving gender diversity.
Meritocracy is a concept Kristen and I both come across regularly in our work. We discuss the ‘myth of meritocracy’ and Kristen shares her idea of ‘mirrortocracy’ instead, how people reflect their biases and social bubbles instead of purely basing decisions solely in merit. Bias isn’t just something external though, Kristen shares her experiences of the female leaders she works with having internal biases against themselves where they often don’t realise their full capabilities.
We close the episode by discussing what organisations can do to increase their gender diversity and support female leaders, including the support EWoB provides leaders and organisations.
Links
Kristen can be found on Linkedin as: Kristen Anderson
More from European Women on Boards can be found at their website at: https://europeanwomenonboards.eu/
The EWOB 2021 Gender Diversity Index Report can be found at: https://europeanwomenonboards.eu/portfolio/gender-diversity-index-2021/
More on Barilla can be found on their website at: https://www.barilla.com/
To hear Why Care? episodes first, sign up to our newsletter here, and you can find more from us at Avenir via our LinkTree here.
