As we edge closer to the first Guardian Woman Festival (March 15 & 16, 2024) with the theme ‘Inspiring Inclusion’, influential women across the globe are lending their voices to herald this festival.
Funke Abimbola is a multi-award-winning corporate lawyer, global pharmaceutical executive and diversity, equity and inclusion leader. She is a volunteer for UK social mobility charity, Speakers for Schools, and ambassador for the charity’s Work Experience for All campaign. Alongside this, she continues to run a medical scholarship scheme that she set up in 2016. She is also the author of ‘Climbing Mountains: My 5-Stage Journey to Resilient Leadership’, published in December last year.In this interview, she discusses why inclusion is so close to her heart and how to become an inclusive leader.
Why did you feel the need to focus on social inclusion?
IT started with the challenges I had entering the UK legal profession almost 25 years ago. I faced blatant name discrimination upon entering the profession. My name is obviously an African one. And it wasn’t until about four or five years into my career that I really thought, I’ve got to start doing something about this.
How did that translate into the programmes you’re involved with today?
For a long time, I focused almost exclusively on the legal profession, volunteering with the Law Society. Then I started volunteering with Speakers for Schools about ten years ago because it became inevitable that young people would want to learn more about overcoming barriers to getting into the profession and what it’s like working there. The medical scholarship came about because I lost my father very suddenly in 2012, and I wanted to do something to honour him.
From your field of practice, what does inclusion specifically mean to you?
I always start with Vernā Myers, a leading diversity, equity and inclusion leader. She said that diversity is being invited to the party, and inclusion is being asked to dance. And then I will go further and say belonging is dancing as if no one is watching you. The final stage is equity, where you’re in the party planning team. It’s that sense of knowing that you truly are a part of the party, that you’re there on your own merits and because you deserve a place there. All those things translate into the workplace and bring out the best in people because you then move on to feeling a sense of belonging and, ultimately, equity where you’re part of the party planning team. You can then decide the venue of the party, canapes, drinks, and all the key decisions around the party. That, of course, is being an influential leader and having representation on the influential leadership teams.
And is that what successful inclusion looks like?
There’ll be a gut feeling about what it’s like working in a place if inclusion has been cultivated. Inclusive leadership will be something the organisation invests in; it’s not something that comes instinctively. There are specific inclusive leadership traits around emotional intelligence, self-awareness, empathy, and active listening because you will need to be able to actively listen if someone in your team is from a very, very different background from yours. You need to effectively understand where they’re coming from.Investing in inclusive leadership is always a strong good sign for me that an organisation is taking it very seriously.
