005 Identity, racism and the future of brands with Suresh Raj
12.10.2020 - By Sudha Singh
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Shownotes:
My guest on todayβs show is Suresh Raj - Chief Business Development Officer (hunter) at Vision 7. Suresh is a founding member of The Collective, a global mentor for INvolve, the diversity and inclusion specialists and is an inaugural member of McKinseyβs The Alliance. Recognitions include being named to two prominent global lists β (1) Financial Timesβ and Yahoo! Financeβs Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Leaders as well as (2) the Top 100 LGBTQ+ Executive Leaders.
In this episode Suresh and I talk about ππΎ
ππΎ Growing up in an ethnically diverse household in a muslim country and the impact of multiple intersectionalities
ππΎ Owning his identity for equality at the table
ππΎ Uncomfortable conversations on race and history
ππΎ Efficacy of legislations and policies on targets vs intentional action.
ππΎBelonging, CDOs as the quick fix and the need for transformational board level change
ππΎ The need for brands to live their purpose and understand their target audiences
ππΎ Ethics as a guiding principle for individuals/organisations, being antiracist and creating action to change the status quo
ππΎ Being human as a key quality for current and future leaders
ππΎ Finding his own purpose in the pervasive lack of inequality in our society and the desire to fuel
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Memorable quotes from the interview
ππΎ And it was in this country that I actually realised the colour of my skin was less valuable than the others around me and particularly people who were fairer skinned. Like people with fairer skinned to be more valuable. According to, the way corporates work here etc, from an economic point of view, from a political point of view they earned more, they got to better opportunities, they had access to all. And I was very confused that to get to a certain level, to earn a certain level of income etc, it was about your ability to deliver. i.e. thatβs got no colour of skin, no labels, thatβs an ability, thatβs your mind, your heart, your spirit. I actually realised from a corporate environment my identity mattered because it then pegged me at a certain level. Also the outward identity, just the colour of my skin, like everything had like a price tag on it. Which is when I really started to push back because I realised, hold on, you ought to be measuring me on my ability to deliver, not for the fact that this is the package I came in. And, that's when I really started realising I have to press my identity because that is who I am and able to push the boundaries of actually getting equality on the table.
ππΎ I looked at the PRWeek power book for 2020 which was published earlier in the year and I think there were like 423 names on that list. The majority of those names were still white male, right. So despite it being a majority women led industry, the majority of the powerful communication influencers, leaders of communications are actually men. For me, what really troubles me was when they broke it down to the ethnic minorities, when calculated it there was zero black males in any sort of influential position, zero black males. And I think there were two black women, there were about three or four Asian women and so the numbers just don't add up because we are a diverse society, you just walk outside on the street and that's all you need. That's all the proof you need.
ππΎ But race, my goodness. It is, such a sensitive subject and everybody shies away from, they don't want to discuss it because they go, well, you know what, it's really uncomfortable. Letβs not hide away from the fact that Britain conquered and colonised about 170 plus out of 180 countries in the world, right. And tried to influence the local cultures and so for me, when it comes back to, okay, let's address the racial issue, everybody shies away from...