Why diversity and inclusion is good for business

In the latest episode of First Person I spoke with Emma Philpott MBE. In a varied career Emma has been an academic, cyber security expert and business leader, and today she is founder and leader of a UK-based cyber security certification company.

In a wide and fun chat Emma told me how – in her words – her career ‘meandered’ to a good place. She explained how mistakes and failure turned into opportunities with the addition of a sense of optimism and an interest in people.

Above all Emma was keen to explain how the organisation she founded and runs succeeds because it is inclusive and the workforce diverse. IASME proactively recruits neuro-diverse people – not just because it is the right thing to do, but because in Emma’s experience it is good for business.

You can view our interview here, listen to it here, or watch in the box below:

Diversity works

I asked Emma what she is most proud of.

“My masterpiece is IASME, our company, but not because we make a profit, and we exited two and a half years ago. Not because we’re the sole delivery partner for the UK government,” she said. “I am most proud of our diversity. We’ve got 120 people, and 30 percent were unemployed when we took them on. Many of them long-term unemployed.”

Emma explained that around half of the workforce is neurodivergent, and a growing number of people in the organization have physical disabilities or chronic illnesses.

“It’s up to us business owners to make sure that our people can have a really good and worthwhile career,” Emme explained. “If you’re saying, no, I’m sorry, you can’t work for us if you have a lot of sick time, you’re just cancelling a whole load of people that could be really, really good for your company.”

“We don’t do it to be nice,” she emphasized.

“We do it because we make a lot of profit and we’re very successful. And we are successful in part because of the diversity of background and thought. If we have a problem, and I can’t think of what to do, I put it out to the organization. The quality ideas and innovation that comes back is absolutely incredible. We wouldn’t have that if we weren’t diverse.”

“Our success as a company – financially – is down to our diversity.” (See also: 8 ways diversity and inclusion help teams perform better.)

Opportunity knocks

So what brought Emma to this point?

“I was an expert in nanotechnology and no one wanted an expert in nanotechnology. There was no money,” Emma explained. “I was just hanging out and it felt like everyone I met worked for a small cybersecurity company. And I thought: what’s that?”

Emma saw an opportunity. She began arranging meetups for cyber security professionals, and never looked back.

“Out of that I founded IASME. So my current job was my first job in IT.”

How is that even possible? Emma believes that her innate optimism was key.

“If you’re a natural optimist, it’s really lucky. I always get excited by change, even change that seems bad,” Emma said. “I get excited because there’s usually good things that come out of it. Because no-one wanted to invest in nanotechnology I couldn’t get a job. Because I was optimistic amazing things came out of it.”

My take? Emma combines optimism and intelligence with a deep concern for and interest in people. It’s a potent mix.

“I’ve ever had any deep knowledge about anything. I know enough to get by, and I know and trust experts. As long as you know experts that really know their stuff and are willing to share that with you, then I think it’s fine.” (See also: DEI that works: 5 companies reaping the benefits of IT diversity strategies.)