Change the Game

Julia Muir

Description

The only book for leaders on achieving growth through a gender balanced business, recognising the need to “build back better” after the economic and social impact of the pandemic

An easy-to-follow 10-step guide

Case studies to illustrate how a wide range of businesses, including many leading brands from the traditionally male-dominated automotive industry have implemented winning ideas

• Includes a compelling 5-minute pitch to cascade and inspire managers to take action  

FOREWORD

by the co-Chairs of the 30% Club; Ann Cairns, Global Vice Chair of Mastercard and Brenda Trenowden CBE PwC Partner

 

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

 

PART ONE:

 

1. THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF BALANCE

            Don’t settle for less

 

2. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP

            Creating a winning business

 

3. A BURNING PLATFORM

            Why we need it now

 

4. SLAYING THE DRAGON

            Dispelling Myths and Creating Legends

 

5. OVERCOMING BARRIERS  & HANDLING RESISTANCE

            Inspire, Inform, Reform

 

6. WHAT MEN CAN DO

            Sponsors, Advocates, Mentors, and Allies

 

7. WHAT WOMEN CAN DO

Trailblazers, Real Models, Growers and Lifters

 8. IKIGAI

            The Impact on the World

PART 2: SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS

9.         KNOW YOUR DATA – AND MAKE YOUR PLAN

10.       REACH OUT TO NEW TALENT POOLS

11.       LEAD A RECALIBRATED ORGANISATION

12.      WELCOME IN THE WOMEN

13.      PULL WOMEN THROUGH THE PIPELINE

14.      HOLD ON TO YOUR INVESTMENT

 

PART 3:

 

15.      BE A GAME CHANGING LEADER

                        If Not You Then Who? If Not Now Then When?

           

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FURTHER READING

Sujets

• Gestion d'équipe
• Women in business
• Gendér
• Skill
• Career
• Diversity
• Female
• Technologie

Informations

• Publié par: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Date de parution: 08 mars 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781788602174
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

This eye-opening book will leave you questioning why the pace of change is so slow when the benefits are so clear. The evidence speaks for itself, and this is a must-have read for any business leader.
Stuart Miles, MD, CDK Global (UK) Ltd
Change the Game is full of practical steps to help leaders drive better gender balance. There is no quick fix but for any leader looking to make progress, this is a great place to start.
Catherine Faiers, COO, Auto Trader Group plc
In a male-dominated sector, few have done more to highlight the automotive sector s lack of progress in getting an appropriate gender balance in the workforce than Julia. The book makes for uncomfortable reading and shows the work to be done.
Robert Forrester, CEO, Vertu Motors plc
A timely read given the pandemic. This book gives a real-world approach to tackling gender balance in the workplace - I encourage all leaders to read it and take note.
James Brearley, CEO, Inchcape UK
This is a great example of a book that provides practical execution-oriented advice from the start. Evidence led, it creates a route through some of the most challenging parts including how to pitch to the unconvinced and how to systemically make changes. If every organization worked with the six steps, we could make real progress to level the playing field.
Sarah Morris, Group Chief People Officer, Compass Group plc
Forget the box-ticking. Forget the endless parade of statistics. Forget blaming the women . This guide cuts through years of jargon and posturing to the heart of what it takes to reach gender equality.
M. Tamara Box, Managing Partner, EME at Reed Smith LLP and passionate gender-balance campaigner

First published in Great Britain by Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2021
Julia Muir, 2021
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN 978-1-78860-218-1 (print)
978-1-78860-217-4 (epub)
978-1-78860-216-7 (mobi)
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
The Ikigai Venn diagram was created by Marc Winn.
For my mother Judy
The strong and supportive woman who is always there for me.
She was given few opportunities, but made sure I was given many.
Contents
Foreword
About the author
Introduction
Part 1: Changing the game
1. The business benefits of balance: Don t settle for less
2. Inclusive leadership: Create a winning business
3. A burning platform: Now is the time
4. Slaying the dragon of positive discrimination: Dispelling myths and creating legends
5. Overcoming barriers and handling resistance: Inspire, inform and reform
6. What men can do: Sponsors, advocates, mentors and allies
7. What women can do: Trailblazers, real models, growers and lifters
8. Find your purpose and reason for being: The wider impact on the world
Part 2: The Six Steps to Success
9. Step 1: Know your data - Be accountable for progress
Case studies: VW Group UK, Auto Trader Group plc
10. Step 2: Reach out to new talent pools - Find new sources of skills
Case studies: CDK Global (UK) Ltd, Bentley Motors Ltd
11. Step 3: Recalibrate for inclusion - Design for productivity not presenteeism
Case studies: Jardine Motors Group, Volvo Car UK
12. Step 4: Welcome in the women - Recruit equitably
Case studies: Auto Trader Group plc, Jardine Motors Group
13. Step 5: Pull women through the pipeline - Promote proportionately
Case studies: Toyota GB, Marshall Motor Holdings plc
14. Step 6: Hold on to your investment - Maintain the balance
Case studies: Vertu Motors plc, JCT600 Ltd
Part 3: If not you, then who? If not now, when?
15. Be a game-changing leader: Leave a lasting legacy
Further resources
Acknowledgements
Endnotes
Foreword
I first came across Julia and her work as I was moving to the role of Chief Executive at Auto Trader Group plc. Our organizations had been working together for some time, but right from first meeting Julia, it was clear that she had huge drive and passion to make a difference to an industry that she had helped to shape over 30 years. Julia founded the Automotive 30% Club, a network of CEOs and managing directors aiming for a minimum 30% representation of diverse women in key roles by 2030. Auto Trader joined as a Patron member of the club as we shared Julia s passion to see more women promoted to leadership roles generally and specifically in the UK automotive sector. Our employees and members of our women s network have all benefitted greatly from the role models and examples that they have met at various events organized by the Automotive 30% Club.
At Auto Trader we have been on this journey in earnest now for over five years. We are one of the few FTSE 100 companies to have a board that is 50:50 women and men with an executive leadership team that is 40:60. However, the further we have come on the journey, the further we realize we still need to go because there are no quick fixes; it requires reworking of systems, processes and programmes at every level of the company. It starts with bringing the right mix of people into the organization at a graduate and early careers level, but also through returners programmes and later career guidance. Wherever they start from, we then need to continue this support as they move through the organization. We also place great focus on the importance of diversity within gender and acknowledge that the opinion of one white woman does not represent all women in our business. While we have more to do, there is no question in my mind that more diverse teams on the whole make better decisions and execute those decisions better, in no small part due to the richer collective intelligence discussed in the book.
The debate surrounding women in leadership is not a new one. Some may even question whether we should have moved beyond this. However, it only takes a cursory glance at most leadership teams across most businesses to see that we still have a very long way to go. The mismatch between women in the population and in leadership positions is not something that we can or should accept. The problems are systemic and unless we take deliberate and potentially difficult actions, then we will find our organizations are no different in ten years time.
That is why this book is so important, and few are as well placed as Julia to speak to the subject. Julia is the leading voice on gender balance in the UK automotive sector, a sector that has historically been seen as stereotypically male. This is somewhat ironic considering that a 2019 article in TI Media found that 90% of women have an influence on the household car purchase decision, and over 40% are the sole decision makers.
True to Julia s style, Change the Game provides a pragmatic, no-nonsense guide to the opportunity, the key issues and how we can all take action to solve them. Part 1 builds the case, providing evidence that gender-balanced teams produce better results and demonstrates how to become a more inclusive leader. In Part 2, Julia shares her Six Steps to Success, which provides a start-to-finish roadmap on how to achieve a more gender-balanced organization. Perhaps the most important section of the book is the final question to readers as to whether they will take their place in history by truly changing the game for the benefit of women, business and society.
I have met few leaders that don t believe in the value of diversity. What they often lack is the practical steps to do something about it, which is exactly what this book provides. For any leader looking to drive lasting change in their organization, this is a brilliant place to start. In the end, it is down to each of us to make a difference in our own teams and organizations. If we take up this challenge, we will not only do our part in creating a fairer and more equal society, but we will create better organizations for our people, customers and shareholders.
Nathan Coe, CEO, Auto Trader Group plc
About the author
Julia Muir is the CEO of the social enterprise Gaia Innovation Ltd, and founder of the Automotive 30% Club, a growing network of over 40 automotive-sector CEOs and managing directors aiming for a minimum of 30% representation of diverse women in key leadership roles by 2030. She has a business studies degree and a postgraduate diploma in human resource development, and is a veteran of the automotive industry with 30 years experience in sales, marketing, organizational development and human resources. Julia has worked across the sector in retail, engineering, production and consultancy in Britain, Germany and Spain. During her employment at Ford Motor Company in the 1990s, she worked with Professor Jim Saker to create the BSc in Automotive Retail Management at the Loughborough University Business School Centre for Automotive Management, and later taught on their postgraduate diploma course from 2011 to the end of 2017.
Julia s primary goal is to help diverse youngsters and women achieve their full potential and overcome any impediments in their way. In this book, she explains the importance of finding your own life s purpose.
In 2016, Julia founded her business Gaia Innovation Ltd to build a positive ecosystem between schools, universities and inclusive employers in advanced technology