The three Ds – Data, Digital, and Diversity.
Over the past few years, the three D’s have dominated the focus of high performing businesses: Diversity, Data, and Digital. These themes have been the center stone of people and business strategies across the globe, as companies compete for talent and strive to secure a competitive advantage over the market.
By their very nature, FinTechs in general have two of the D’s well covered: Data – enriching our intelligence and insights into our customers, product and marketplace; and Digital – ensuring our solutions are fit for purpose in an increasingly digital world. However, there remains a burning question over Diversity: both the attention given to it, and to ensuring it is not a token pillar of a business plan, but one that is integral to its success.
We know by now that Diversity is not a ‘nice to have’. It is critical to innovation. Gender is one element of a diverse organization, of course – along with other binary statistics such as race and age. Fintechs have work to do here at the most basic level: the latest Diversity for Growth report by Findexable found that in Fintech, women represent less than 20% of company executives. This is not good enough.
More importantly – and with more complexity – there is a need to focus on diversity of styles: diversity of thinking, diversity of expression. We need leaders that lead with masculinity and femininity – and it may not be men that lead with masculinity, or women that lead with femininity; it is the traits of both these traditional leadership styles that are required in an organization; both results focused and empathetic leadership combined. We need people that think in unique ways, from their own diverse experiences of the world. We need curiosity, collaboration, and challenge.
Diversity is being invited to the party, and Inclusion is being asked to dance.
We also need to raise Inclusion up to be on an equal footing with Diversity. D&I expert Verna Myers famously said that Diversity is being invited to the party, and Inclusion is being asked to dance. In other words, Diversity in about representation, and Inclusion is about involvement – creating a shared sense of belonging by equally valuing diverse views from the top of the organization through to the bottom. We are all valuable, and we all have gifts to share. We need different perspectives in a room to get to that golden idea; one that will change the world.
And if we don’t focus on Diversity and Inclusion? Simply put, we will be left behind. The world is storming on, regardless. Organizations that value our differences and the power this brings will have an advantage over those that do not. Fintech needs to keep up the pace; not just with churning out innovative ideas, but ensuring we have remarkable people to create them.
Make diversity a reality – 40% women on the Leadership Team vs 20% industry average.
At myZoi, D&I is at the forefront of our agenda. It aligns intrinsically with our Values.
We are proud to have a woman as one of our two board members and 40% women on the leadership team. However, the intention we place behind embracing diversity of styles is what sets us apart.
High engagement scores tell us how we’re tracking – 8.5 vs. 7.5 industry average.
We hire for attitude, and alignment to our purpose. We embrace working parents with our flexible culture, hybrid work, extended maternity and paternity leave, and unlimited annual leave. We encourage feedback from everyone, regardless of seniority. We connect as a team, to get to deeply know each colleague as a unique individual. We work across teams and functions, cutting through traditional hierarchies and embracing different viewpoints for key decisions. We value people for who they are. We are ever improving, but our culture scores tell us that we are moving in the right direction (8.5, compared to an industry average of 7.5 – as defined by July 2024 engagement data from CultureAmp) – with happiness, relationships, and growth as our strengths.
Be human.
If I were asked the question of how we can strive for a sustainable diversity impact in tech companies, I would answer with this: be human. Forget the tech-talk, abolish presenteeism, defy the image of a group of young creative geniuses sitting heads down around a computer. We must be intentional in our approach to reflect in our organization the world in which we live – which is a community of vibrant, unique, human beings. Even in a market consumed by technology, our humanity is how we will win.
