Statistically speaking, and sadly, no. It’s interesting: I’m a lifelong athlete, and sport survives and thrives based on a quote ‘level playing field’ whereby the rules are clearly stated, understood and applied. Talent brought me to the field of play, and the rules kept the play fair and equitable. My mates on the football pitch were different in every possible way except two: A shared love of the game, and the talent to compete at our level of play.

These two traits are those that I’ve long carried into my business career. Love what you do, and do it very well. And it saddens me to look back at my generation – leader or otherwise – and know that some of us benefitted unfairly due to unstated rules and characteristics that have no bearing on performance. Talent is talent. It does not have a ‘type.’

Growing up as a child and young man in my English seaside community, everyone in my little corner of the world seemed essentially the same. We looked the same. We talked the same. Fathers worked. Mothers generally did not. And with rare exception, our living standards were effectively the same. So imagine my surprise and disappointment when I entered university and it was made clear to me that I was ‘working class’ and that the ‘system’ was designed to weed out people like me. The expectation was that I would not finish my studies nor ‘make something’ of myself professionally. I worked hard to get there. How could I not know there were so-called rules of the universe, and that they were biased against me?

I’m proud to say I proved the ‘system’ wrong. And I suppose it’s fair to say that, for many years, I carried the memory of having been looked down upon – for being stigmatized. Of course, in time it became clear to me that there are systems inside of systems. And what became most painfully clear was that this young man of the working class was – simply by virtue of gender and race – still privileged in every way possible. The world as I knew and experienced it was essentially built for me as ‘white male’. I did nothing to gain everything.
 
Are stereotypes still present in my work environment today? Yes. We are working hard to teach and model the difference so that the unconscious becomes conscious and can then be eradicated. We can’t censure an entire gender. We must embrace opportunity for all, based on ability and desire.

I should have not gone to university based on a stereotype I did not know, feel, nor deserve to receive. As a result, I am very mindful of matters of exclusion and equity.

I have long been a very strong proponent of diversity of thought. I don’t need someone who thinks like me – I already have me. I want new and different approaches, and options from which a decision can be reached. And I want someone who questions and challenges assumptions.
 
We often talk of ‘leadership’ as though it’s a solo sport. But leaders never go it alone. I’ve built countless leadership teams over the years. And purely with a bias for thought diversity, I’ve quite naturally landed with leadership teams representing the full spectrum of visible diversity – age, gender, ethnicity, etc. We are all different, and our differences are our biggest assets in the workplace. It’s as true for the conference room as it is for the boardroom.
 
So I act against gender stereotypes – and all stereotypes, really – by creating and nurturing leadership teams that model the kind of diversity we want and need at all levels of the organization. I serve as a mentor to up-and-coming female talent as a means to develop them for senior management roles. And lately I’ve found myself working more with men on the topic of gender diversity than women. Until the number of female leaders meets or beats the number of male leaders in my company, as men we need to understand the limits of our thinking that are limiting opportunities for women in the workplace.
 
Inclusion paves the path for diversity.