This year at True we celebrated International Women’s Day on 08 March by inviting the brilliant women of our community to our new space, True House. The event allowed our community to foster new connections, discuss the difficulties of inequality in and out of the workplace, but also to celebrate their own wins and empower one another to make positive change. Hosted by our Managing Director and CMO Ella d’Amato, alongside a panel of experts – Holly Tucker MBE (Founder, Holly & Co), Carole Gaskell (Speaker, CEO, Coach, Full Potential Group), Éva Goicochea (CEO & Founder, Maude) and Christine Cross (Advisor, Interpath Advisory), who opened the discussion of the 2022 campaign theme #BreakTheBias.
We asked our attendees how they would reimagine the workplace to break the bias, and their responses truly inspired us. Here are a small selection.
“In corporate finance, the bias begins significantly younger, at school level even. Very few girls even consider the industry, which means there isn’t enough younger talent coming through the ranks to change the gender split.” - Aoidin Gormley (Analyst, Investment, True)
“So often, businesses rely on a person’s credentials or their own network to hire. This can lead to homogenous organisation by ever definition, including the often critically-overlooked element of emotional intelligence. The dynamics of EQ – of the company, its employees, and leadership – are ultimately decided by the breadth and depth of experiences you have at the table.” - Éva Goicochea (CEO/Founder, Maude)
“As a new mum, and a founder with a majority female team, the importance of flexible working has never been more apparent to me. A shift in mindset to assessing performance and delivery of KPIs rather than time spent sat at desks would hugely benefit anyone with a caring role – whether that be for children or elderly parents.” - Jo James (Founder, Bedfolk)
"I see and experience the world from an incredibly privileged position – a white, English bloke who enjoyed a supportive and strong up bringing – who has faced little or no barriers to progression in life. I try always to remember that and when I look around the industry we operate in it’s clear that the world isn’t fair and the majority of people do not enjoy the same privileges I have benefitted from. Every minority group is under-represented in our industry and women, which clearly aren’t in a minority, are dramatically under-represented – particularly in senior positions. I know from our recruitment experience over the last decade that changing this reality is hard - it will take real, conscious effort. As somebody who is in the very fortunate position of being able to influence change, I feel passionately that True should lead the way in increasing diversity across our business, our portfolio businesses and our industry more broadly. " - Paul Cocker CEO & Co-founder True.
We are always keen to bring together interesting and influential voices, so if you’d like to attend any of our future events like this, then be sure to sign up to our ‘True Stories’ newsletter below.
