Advanced Executive Leadership

#48 The cognitive load of diversity and inclusion with Stephen Frost

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Episode notes

Three things are true in diversity and inclusion.

The first is that it makes both good business sense – diverse teams are more effective. Second, it's the right thing to do – people should have a place in organisations based on their capabilities.

And thirdly, and perhaps more controversially, that working with more diverse groups of people is harder. There is a cognitive cost in working with people who are less like us.

That’s what my guest, Stephen Frost and I explore in today’s episode of the podcast.

Stephen is a globally recognised diversity, inclusion and leadership expert, and founded Included in 2012. He leads the team and works with leaders around the world to embed inclusive leadership in their decision-making.

From 2007-2012 Stephen designed, led and implemented the inclusion programmes for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games as Head of D&I for the London Organising Committee. From 2004-2007 Stephen established and led the workplace team at Stonewall.

Stephen has also led D&I at KPMG and worked in advertising and consulting. Stephen was a Hertford College Scholar at Oxford and a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard. He remains a Visiting Fellow of the Women and Public Policy Program.

He has won various awards from the 2010 Peter Robertson Award for Equality and Diversity Champions and 2011 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum to one of Management Today’s Change Agents for his race and gender work and 2022 Winds of Change Awards from The Forum on Workplace Inclusion.

He has taught Inclusive Leadership at Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University and Sciences Po in France and advised the British Government, Royal Air Force and the White House.

He is author of The Inclusion Imperative (2014), Inclusive Talent Management (2016) and Building an Inclusive organisation The Key to Inclusion (July 2022).