How To Design For Diversity and Inclusion with Hanna Naima McCloskey (Ep. 26)
Hanna Naima McCloskey is both an inspirational and awesome human being. As the Founder and CEO of Fearless Futures, she is seeking to put social justice, equity and equality at the heart of the business agenda.
So many people are now talking about diversity and inclusion, but we are seeing many ineffective initiatives, committees and training that barely scratch the surface.
Hanna and Fearless Futures give business leaders a true experience of what it is like to experience inequity and prejudice. It is only from that place, she contends, can we really design organisations for true inclusion.
As a person, Hanna is warm, smart and wise beyond her years. As a startup founder, she is focused and purposeful. For me, this is one of the most important episodes that I have ever been part of. Hanna really does blow the lid off what you think diversity and inclusion are.
In this conversation, we talk about:
Why dealing with inequity and inclusion is the transformative path to leadership
How you can be a startup founder and fundamentally create social change
Acknowledging that the world is unequal is the real starting point of diversity and inclusion (D&I)
Most diversity and inclusion work doesn’t address the root causes of the issues that it sets out to address
Never understand the power of a few courageous agitators to create fundamental change in organisations
Webinars on unconscious bias are NOT the way forward
Why you can’t look at diversity and inclusion by looking at gender, race etc as separate issues
How to REALLY approach D&I as a transformative subject that does actually change things
Why Fearless Futures never engage in business case conversations for the work they do with organisations
How Hanna lives her own values as a leader in her own organisation
Why this is one of the most important podcasts that you will listen to this year
Hanna's Social Links
Hanna Naima McCloskey
Hanna Naima McCloskey is of Algerian-British heritage and the Founder & CEO of Fearless Futures. She has worked for the UN, NGOs and the Royal Bank of Scotland, across communications, research and finance roles; and has lived, studied and worked in Israel-Palestine, Italy, USA, Sudan, Syria and the UK.
She has a BA in English from the University of Cambridge and an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, with a specialism in Conflict Management.
Hanna is an expert in inequality and leadership, having dedicated the last seven years to researching, living and exploring the literature and practice of creating socially just, empowered and inclusive communities and workplaces.
Hanna also leads on our work to bring anti-discrimination and intersectionality to design, which she does in collaboration with our colleague Priya.