What does it take for marketing leaders to make genuine DE&I progress?

“Equity takes into account that people come from different backgrounds, and they have different strengths. They don't need to be traditionally book-smart to do great in our industry. Sometimes that can be the forgotten part of equity. And businesses need to focus on not only looking at their internal equity frameworks, but also the external ones when they're looking to bring in talent.”

Charles Ifegwu, managing director, The Fifth: “It’s about putting together a framework. For me, that's been what I call the three pillars of aligning DE&I with business priorities. It’s a triangle: your people, your community, and your output.

“It starts with your people – who are the people who are implementing this? Do you have a representative team and allies within your team that push you to engage your community in an authentic way and do meaningful work?

“That filters down to the community and audience that you cultivate, which can a hold you accountable to being representative and having initiatives that mirror what your people are saying.

“Then there’s the output: the work you do, or aspire to do, that engages the community, attracts talent engagement to be aligned with your DE&I priorities.”

Eden Andu, HR Employee Relations + DEI, Wasserman: “It's oversimplifying it, but for me it’s about getting past titles and rigid hierarchies; getting past ego; getting past not being the expert, not being knowledgeable on everything. To me, true leadership is recognizing when we need to step aside, listen, and allow others to take up space, especially when that person should not or can't. It’s about letting go and truly cultivating the space.”

Kandice Quain, media manager, Bray Leino: “Start by looking at your like immediate, unique situation. For my agency, it was that we were not very diverse in certain areas. We knew the stats about, for example, about educational attainment, and we wanted to focus on that. We're trying to focus on the things immediately in front of us, and what we can actually have an impact on, rather than going all-out and trying to fix everything at once; there are so many areas of DE&I, but focusing on your situation, and following it through, is important.”

Luisa Monteiro Furlan, culture and engagement director, Jellyfish: “For me, it comes down to just three things. First, listening to your people, making it really collaborative, and not just making it seem like it is.

“The second is trying new things. We need to impact and amaze our own colleagues as if they were clients. Here at Jellyfish, we recently had a culture day: a ‘28-hour-day’, all about diversity and culture and how it relates to business – because we had the feeling that people didn't understand that relationship between business and diversity. We had people bringing their personal stories: about allyship, about changing countries, about growing from poverty.

“The third thing is to start by empowering someone else that has a different background from you. In my case, I wouldn't look for another Latina woman; I would maybe look for someone from a gender or sexuality minority, because I'm heterosexual. Mentoring and reverse mentoring are very important things if we are to open up our heads, implement real change, and do something that was never done before.”

Jennifer Chapman, talent director, PrettyGreen: “At PrettyGreen, I'm so proud of ‘A is for All’, our code of conduct. Our DE&I journey runs our recruitment, campaigns, and the advice we give to clients. The industry as a whole needs to continue to be brave: brave to say when we don't know; brave to ask questions. Many of us need to accept their privilege, and if it's not your lived experience, ask us the questions. If everyone comes together, we’ll find a lot of common ground and experience and that will create change.”