7. “The best work happens when very different
minds and disciplines come together. Creative
collisions are how new things happen. The
ferocious need for diverse and varied thinking
demands we have the same diversity in the
makeup of our companies.”
Nils Leonard, Ex CCO & Chairman of Grey London
8. “Diversity of thought comes from diversity of
talent and so I think that the quality, the
relevance and the acceptability of our work is
driven by our talent. If you have an imbalance
and a lack of diversity, that’s going to
adversely affect the work.”
James Whitehead, CEO of J. Walter Thompson
9. “The cost of excluding women and them not
succeeding in their careers is huge. If you add
up women, LGBT people, people of different
ethnic origins or different religions who can
feel excluded from the workplace, it’s a huge
pool of talent you’re missing out on.”
Micheal Brunt, CMO of The Economist
10. “I think women are just as valuable to this
industry as men, if not more so — they are
better team builders, better managers and
are better for our clients for those reasons”
Daren Rubins, CEO of PHD Media
12. “The challenge of equality and respect. Cindy
Gallop’s whole thing about ‘changing the ratio’
is a powerful message yet people overlook it
too readily. When women are given, and
deserve, opportunities, their voices are often
not enough engaged and/or bought into.”
Toby Southgate, Worldwide CEO for The Brand Union
13. “Firstly, role models are hard to find.
Secondly, women aren’t as comfortable
negotiating on their own behalf as men, which
impedes upward mobility.”
Howard Belk, CEO of Siegel + Gale
14. “I think those are the two main challenges:
issues for working mothers; and the behaviour
that is engendered in agencies that makes it
difficult or challenging for women to be in a
management position.”
Allan Blair, Head of Strategy @ Tribal Worldwide
16. “If you create a culture of warmth and support it
should be absolutely normal for any new parent
to ask for flexibility and that includes Fathers.
Whether that’s that they’d like to drop their kids
at school, or be home for bath time.”
Daren Rubins, CEO of PHD Media
18. “You have to positively discriminate, and we do that
in a couple of ways. It’s about where you cast your
net, opening up to all possible recruits. Recruiters
often look at you and go out looking to hire a mini
version of you. This is the last thing we want. We tap
into networks such as a black leaders’ network and
we mine these groups for senior talent, similarly for
women.”
Micheal Brunt, CMO of The Economist
19. “Don’t hire someone like yourself, try and hire your
opposite. Someone you could imagine yourself
coming to work with but someone who will make you
more complete and challenge you in the things you’re
comfortable in.”
Dale Gall, CEO of MullenLowe Profero
20. “You cannot conduct an interview at Facebook
unless you’ve had unconscious bias training.
The training was just so interesting because
by nature you’re not conscious of it!”
Steve Hatch, MD of Facebook UK
21. “[Apprenticeships are]…. really important.
Agencies tend to be very white and middle
class, as well as having a gender diversity
issue. Apprenticeships allow us to bring
people into, say UX or strategy or social
media, who wouldn’t ever usually have had
that opportunity.”
Allan Blair, Head of Strategy @ Tribal Worldwide
23. “Companies are nuts not to provide a good
work/life balance.…. I encourage flexible
working for everyone so parents don’t feel
they are the only ones doing it, leading to
feelings of guilt. It’s becoming the norm in my
team and I’m extremely pleased with their
output.”
Micheal Brunt, CMO of The Economist
24. What’s the one thing you would
have liked to have done
differently?
25. “It would be about bringing more young
women into the industry and encouraging
them to stay in the industry.”
Allan Blair, Head of Strategy @ Tribal Worldwide
27. “My advice is to take a look at a firm before
you join it and see how women are
represented in the senior ranks. Are there
women Senior Designers and what has their
career path been? Don’t be afraid to ask the
tough questions.”
Howard Belk, CEO of Siegel + Gale
28. “As a female Creative Director you have the
highest value of anyone in the industry. A
female CD is priceless. So I would say — you
have enormous value, recognise that. A third
of our creative directors are female by the
way.”
Richard Warren, Ex CEO MullenLowe
29. “Talent is scarce; understand your worth to
the organisation. If you’re contributing and
delivering on the commercial imprint to the
organisation, you’re worth a huge amount.
Your work/life balance has absolutely no
bearing.”
Micheal Brunt, CMO of The Economist
30. “Be ruthless about finding a culture that’s
going to enable you to thrive. This means a
culture where you have a great role model/s,
cohorts and are nurtured. Also you’ve got to
want to be great. So you need to be in a place
that wants to be great.”
Dale Gall, CEO of MullenLowe Profero
31. “Make sure that you prioritise and fight for
continued training in the workplace. I read
somewhere that according to new research,
women are less likely to receive workplace
training than men, and men are more likely
than women to receive a pay rise following
training.”
Karen Blackett, Chairwoman at MediaCom
33. “If you feel awkward discussing gender
diversity, get over yourself, your
awkwardness is not really the issue! Lets help
other people feel empowered so we can get
to the day when women feel the system is
working for them.”
Steve Hatch, MD of Facebook UK
34. “Hire strong female leaders in your business
and create the conditions for them to succeed.
In doing so, create the role models for others
but also if you listen, the ones who will change
you and as a consequence, evolve the
culture.”
Dale Gall, CEO of MullenLowe Profero
35. “Show more warmth to your team. We spend
far too long at work for there to be politics, ego,
aggressive behavior. Coming into work should
feel like being part of a family, to feel supported
by your colleagues and surrounded by people
who want you to do well.”
Daren Rubins, CEO of PHD Media
36. “Be hyper aware of interaction dynamics
within teams, and ensure people are
responding to the quality of the idea and not
the source. Men need to be on the lookout for
any bias they see and stifle it.”
Howard Belk, CEO of Siegel + Gale
37. “Being as active a parent as their spouse.
Equal parenting means equal working
opportunities.”
Richard Warren, Ex CEO MullenLowe
38. “Stay open. Remember that the more varied
and powerful your colleagues, the more you
grow.”
Nils Leonard, Ex CCO & Chairman of Grey London
39. “[Avoid] topics like the sports results. Throw
open the discussion and be thoughtful about
including everyone. Also be respectful that
people can’t always go for drinks after work.
Whether you like it or not, that’s where the
meeting carries on and the discussion
continues. Don’t do it. .”
Micheal Brunt, CMO of The Economist
40. “I would like everyone to think they are
always being watched. Would you be happy
watching yourself or hearing yourself in your
interactions with colleagues?”
Toby Southgate, Worldwide CEO for The Brand Union
41. “Come along to some networking events.
Know your own stats for your own
organisation. Go through unconscious bias
training..”
Karen Blackett, Chairwoman at MediaCom
43. 1. Create an environment where women can thrive
2 Champion female development in the
organization
3 Make sure there is no gender pay gap in our
company.
4 Create an environment where returning mothers
don’t just feel like they are returning because they
need the money. ”
Daren Rubins, CEO of PHD Media
45. “Sheryl Sandberg because she has an
incredibly analytical mind, and incredibly
compassionate heart. Two super powers in
business.”
Steve Hatch, MD of Facebook UK
46. “Tess Alps. As a female sales director, she
broke boundaries. I think she was a pioneer at
PHD in terms of the craft of planning and
media not just being about buying. I think
what she created at Thinkbox shows her skill
at collaboration; getting loads of different
forecasters to come together as one is a skill..”
Karen Blackett, Chairwoman at MediaCom
48. “We also offer our mums maternity coaching
from maternity coaching experts, Talking Talent.
This is in the form of 3 sessions (before, during
and after maternity leave)”
49. “Project Blend is an app that allows
conversation between a manager and their
team members to help them understand what
the most important blend in their life is — the
important elements, and to understand how to
blend those elements with work”
50. A return to work bonus for all retuning mums as
well as a baby bonus for mums and dads