I’ve got an affinity with Castle Peak for two reasons.
First, at the base of the peak is the Tsing Shan Monastery, famous as one of the settings of Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. Lee is a hero of mine, and martial arts have played a hugely important role in my life since I was a child. I still teach Tai Chi Chuan and Chinese Martial Arts.
Second, the peak also lends its name to Castle Peak Road, the longest road in Hong Kong.
That’s symbolic to me, and to Castle Peak’s mission, because embedding diversity is itself a long road.
I get a huge amount of satisfaction from working alongside clients as they go on that journey.
Executive Search can be a transactional industry – client hire you to fill a role, after all – but when I work with organisations again and again, I can see and be part of the progress they are making.
There’s a well-defined maturity model for diversity and inclusion, ranging from legal and regulatory compliance, through changing mindsets and behaviours through D&I strategies and targeted programmes, to finally placing D&I as a core operating principle.
That does take time.
Organisations don’t hire board level roles every day, or even every year, and making the required cultural changes is a significant undertaking.
In my experience, the reality is the North East lags behind a bit on diversity in senior roles, and in institutional maturity when it comes to D&I.
That’s true internationally, from what I’ve seen working in Asia and North America, and it’s true compared to other regions in the UK.
I’ve written before about how the old excuse that the North East isn’t that diverse a region is carrying less and less weight. The last Census showed the North East, and particularly its urban centres, becoming more diverse ethnically and with a growing proportion of LGBTQ+ residents.
Even while the North East has a lot of road ahead of it on its diversity journey, there are some sectors and organisations which are making the transition well.
Housing associations, for example, are some of the very best.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with a range of them over the years and there are lots of reasons why they do so well.
But, fundamentally, it comes down to two things.
One, as organisations committed to social impact, they recognise the importance of reflecting the communities they represent.
Two, they understand that diverse leaders make better decisions, and that will leave them better able to meet the challenges the sector faces.
Those challenges are huge.
Housing is in crisis across the UK, as evidenced by the new Chancellor Rachel Reeves using her first speech to take aim at housebuilding.
Social housing providers in particular have been on the front line of responding to first the pandemic, and then the cost of living crisis. Good quality housing is an enabler of good health, economic regeneration and of the transition to net zero.
That’s before we get to a housing association’s role as an anchor institution, as a significant local employer which invests huge sums of money into local economies.
Let’s take the example of one housing association which I’ve worked with.
They own and manage thousands of properties, which are home to tens of thousands of people. They employ hundreds, and invest hundreds of millions each business plan period.
They’ve taken a proactive approach to create an environment which promotes fairness, dignity and respect, while benchmarking themselves against the industry through the National Housing Federation’s efforts on EDI data collection.
In the past few years, they’ve put in place a Board Development Programme with the intention of strengthening diversity in the group’s governance. This has included working in the sector to help individuals gain the skills needed to take on non-exec director roles, and the chance for people still building their competence to take on co-opted positions. They have a stated aim of a minimum 50% female representation on their board.
You can quickly see, and say with certainty, that they embed diversity in their business and are constantly looking to accelerate their progress as they continue their journey towards greater diversity and inclusion at a senior level.
