Benefits of coaching as a leadership style

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By Frans Campher

It is 2005 and the chief operating officer of Delta Airlines, Jim Whitehurst, is in Atlanta airport at an impromptu meeting with several hundred of his mechanics. Delta has just filed for federal bankruptcy protection and is in a race against time to avoid collapse. Staff are fearful for their futures. Whitehurst is the self-styled ‘guy with the binders’: renowned for being on top of the data and with an answer to everything. But today he hasn’t been able to plan what to say.

Whitehurst realises that candour is his only option. He talks in detail about the company’s situation and then invites comments from the room. To his surprise, the mechanics ask questions, not about pay cuts, but about the turnaround plan and how they could help. In the following days, word spreads around the company about Whitehurst’s candour and similar meetings with staff are repeated throughout the turnaround process. In a short time, Delta rises to the top of service reliability rankings because staff own the problem and take accountability.

Whitehurst credits this experience for causing a fundamental shift in his leadership approach.

He realised that great leaders don’t need to have all the answers. What great leaders do is lead the conversation, pose the right questions and create a culture where everyone in an organisation is empowered to discover solutions. 

This shift in mindset led to him building upon the open leadership framework which he encountered at tech company Red Hat, recently sold to IBM for USD $34bn. You can hear Whitehurst tell his leadership story in his TED talk. You may also wish to read his book called The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance.

Whitehurst developed what I like to call a coaching mindset.  I believe this mindset is vital for leaders today who are facing increasing complexity, ambiguity, and demands on their time. In our age of rapidly shifting business models and digital transformation, it is simply impossible to maintain a rigid command-and-control leadership style. Leaders must multiply their impact by engaging and empowering others.

From almost sixteen years of leadership development practice, I know that adopting a coaching mindset isn’t easy for executives. Executives can fear relinquishing control and this fear can have a paralysing effect on organisations.  I often meet executives who are stressed and not performing effectively because they are trying to do the jobs of their direct reports as well as their own. They are directing and managing rather than leading and neither the executive nor their team is doing their best work. I work with the executive to help them adopt a coaching mindset so they can expand from being managers who organise to leaders who inspire. I work with them to set vision and objectives which create accountability but also space and conditions for people to grow, develop and be creative.

When discussing the coaching mindset, I often point my clients to Benjamin Zander’s reflections on his role as an orchestra conductor in his wonderful TED talk:

``The conductor doesn't make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful… I realised my job was to awaken possibility in other people. And of course, I wanted to know whether I was doing that. How do you find out? You look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it.``

For Zander, great conductors don’t have to be the centre of attention. They don’t even have to make a sound. But if they awaken possibility in other people they are still powerful. This message for me beautifully encapsulates great leadership.

Perhaps you have been on your own leadership journey or there are leaders who have influenced you? What do you think makes a great leader? I would love to hear from you.

Frans Campher is a leadership development coach and the founder and CEO of Integral Leadership Dynamics. He is Associate Faculty at Imperial Business School and Co-Director of the Leadership in a Technology Driven World executive education programme.

Connect with Frans on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Learn more on this upcoming programme

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Leadership in a Technology Driven World
Imperial Leadership in a Technology Driven World Programme is a five-day immersive course that equips participants with the skills to lead their teams through the digital age.

Why large organisations struggle with innovation

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In the 1960s and 1970s Polaroid Corporation was one of the world’s most fashionable technology brands, employing 21,000 people at its peak and selling millions of instant cameras each year. Pioneering creatives like Andy Warhol carried Polaroid cameras around with them wherever they went.

But this success could not be sustained and in the following decades the original Polaroid Corporation declined to such an extent that in 2001 it filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

Along with Kodak, who suffered a similar decline, Polaroid’s fall from its market-leading position is often used as a case study to show how failing to respond to technological innovation can damage incumbent companies.

However, it is too simplistic to say that imaging companies like Kodak and Polaroid failed to appreciate that digital would change the film and imaging industries.

In the 1970s and 1980s Kodak and Polaroid were leaders in the emerging field of digital photography.  The first digital camera was created by a Kodak engineer in 1975. In the late 1980s, over 40 per cent of Polaroid’s research and development budget was invested in digital imaging. By the late 1990s Polaroid was a top seller of digital cameras.

Kodak and Polaroid’s decline was due, not to a lack of technological awareness or investment in R&D, but a failure to achieve sustainable business model innovation.

Why ‘good’ management can hinder innovation in large organisations

Steven J. Sasson, who developed the first prototype digital camera at Kodak, recalls management responding to his innovation by saying “that’s cute — but don’t tell anyone about it.” Getting his idea accepted was hard work, particularly when it threatened the company’s main business in film.

Sasson found that many managers understandably follow the popular maxim "kill not the goose that lays the golden egg". They are unwilling to divert their focus from products and services which are selling well at a good margin, let alone agree to invest in developing products which could eventually undermine their current core business.

This is one of many examples of how structures and management behaviours that organisations have encouraged can hinder the innovation process.

As I explored in a research paper with colleagues in the USA and France, large organisations may have a culture of sharing information on a need-to-know basis to stop trade secrets escaping the organisation. This can stifle the flow of innovative ideas and reduce returns on investment in particular from outsourced R&D.

Emotional attachment to products can also be a powerful barrier to change.

Intel is known today as a leading microprocessor manufacturer, but back in the 1980s their main product was computer memory. Robert A. Burgelman wrote a great paper on Intel’s strategic shift from memory to microprocessors. He describes managers at Intel delaying over a decision to exit the memory market in spite of good evidence to support the move. He quotes a manager likening this move to "Ford deciding to get out of cars". There was a great emotional attachment to the product that had made Intel and this created inertia which hindered the innovation process.

Developing an innovation mindset

Kodak and Polaroid were challenged to adapt their business models for a digital era. Today, companies across sectors face analogous challenges caused by the disruptive potential of technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and blockchain.

We developed Imperial’s executive education open programme From Idea to Innovation: Inspiring Intrapreneurship to help executives in large organisations change their mindset, overcome barriers to innovation, and thrive in this rapidly changing world.

Anu Wadhwa is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Imperial London and the Programme Lead for the executive education open programme From Idea to Innovation: Inspiring Intrapreneurship.

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Anu Wadhwa

About Anu Wadhwa

Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship
Anu Wadhwa is Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Programme Director of the MSc in Innovation, Entrepreneurship in Management. Her research examines entrepreneurship in established firms, the impact of corporate entrepreneurship on innovation, how entrepreneurs make decisions under extreme uncertainty, and how experience and knowledge impact innovation.

Prior to joining Imperial Business School, Dr Wadhwa was on the faculty at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. She received her PhD from the Foster School of Business at University of Washington, Seattle.

Read Anu's Imperial Profile for more information and publications.

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A Darwinian Explanation of Innovation

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Can biology teach us anything about innovation? The essence of Darwinism is that progress is created by adaptation to changing circumstances. What starts off as a random mutation often spreads throughout a population to eventually become the norm through a process of natural selection. The same is surely true with innovation. New ideas are mutations created through chaos and adaptation, especially when two or more old ideas combine or reproduce in unusual or unexpected ways. In short, innovation = inheritance (history) +  variation + selection.

Serendipity clearly plays an important part in this process and the list of things created by accident is certainly impressive; Aspirin, Band-Aids, credit cards, DNA finger printing, dynamite, inoculation, Jell-O, Ferrari, Lamborghini, microwave ovens, penicillin, ink-jet printers, X-rays, nylon, heart pacemakers, Coca-Cola, Teflon, Vulcanised rubber, Nintendo, Lego, Smart Dust, matches, dynamite (yikes), safety glass, Corn Flakes, Super Glue, Viagra and Velcro to name quite a few.

Pursuing experiments – and tolerating the inevitable failures that result – is therefore one practical way to make an organisation more innovative. But is there is another option? Is there a strategy, process or even a culture that will embed innovative thinking at the very core of an organisation’s being? I think there is.

Think about when individuals and institutions are at their most innovative. You might think about the cross-fertilisation of disciplines and experience. This is indeed one way to kick-start innovative thinking and it’s not that difficult to design spaces where diverse people will bump into each other in a random manner. Office kitchens and staircases immediately spring to mind. Lunch is even better. A Harvard Business Review article once claimed that P&G had attempted to “systemise the serendipity” that so often sparks innovation. When the Hollywood producer Brian Grazer heard about this he commented: “that’s what we call lunch.”

Another route is to combine the energy and naivety of youth with the wisdom and cynicism of old age. This can work too. Reverse mentoring is a very practical idea championed by the likes of former GE boss Jack Welsh. Or there’s the thought of recruiting both the newest and the oldest members of staff for brainstorms. Diversity in terms of skills is key, but so too are age and experience.

And, of course, there’s the idea that if you generate enough ideas one will surely be good enough to use. This does occasionally work, although in my experience not very often. I prefer the opposite, which involves thinking inside a small box rather than thinking outside of one. Read, for example, Adam Morgan’s book called A Beautiful Constraint.

So, what’s my big idea for generating big ideas? What’s my million- dollar idea? Death. That’s right, demise, departure, disappearance, extinction, the grim reaper. Hold on, am I seriously suggesting that we kill companies and organisations just to reinvent them? Sort of.

It strikes me that true clarity only arrives occasionally and generally it’s when we think we are going to die. If we are looking down the barrel of a gun – or a microscope – we tend to see our death (and with it our entire life) in high definition. This creates a tremendous sense of urgency to put it mildly. This might not be of much use if we have seconds to live, but if we are given weeks or months we’re often able to focus on the things we really want to do and separate what’s merely urgent from what’s actually important. Relationships are rekindled, ideas are hatched, things get reinvented.

Sometimes we are fortunate. We think we are going to die, but we don’t. The tests or the analysis were wrong. The threat failed to materialise. We were lucky. Sometimes the change resulting from serious threats is enduring, although more often than not we revert to our bad old ways once the grim reaper has gone elsewhere. This is true for institutions as much as it’s true for individuals.

One of the reasons that Apple, sometimes cited as the world’s most valuable company, is so innovative might be to do with the fact it was 90 days away from being bankrupt back in 1997. Similar near death experiences abound, ranging from Telsa, SpaceX and KFC to Airbnb, FedEx and IBM.

So, the second million-dollar question must surely be this…can you fake your own death in order to think straight or to become more innovative? Believe it or not a company in South Korea once tried to do precisely this, although it backfired somewhat.

Back in 2008 there was a South Korean craze called ‘well-dying’ in which employees would write and then read out their last words in fake funeral services. Organisations such as Samsung and Hyundai sent their employees on courses organised by Korea Life Consulting in order to question their life paths and priorities. The idea got a lot of bad press at the time, partly because people were required to get inside a real coffin, but it wasn’t a wholly bad idea.

Asking people what they’d do if they had a day, a week or a year left to live can be a good way to reveal what they really think about things, including themselves. Asking a leadership team inside a large organisation to do the same is a similarly good way to reveal not only priorities, but potentially to revaluate strategies too. What might you do differently if you didn’t have to worry about regulation, unions, governments, quarterly earnings and so forth?

After all, if you have absolutely nothing to lose you will behave very differently than if you do. You will try things that are riskier and be far less concerned with what others might think of you. In short, you will be brave and be led by your heart as much as your head. You’ll dream big and be less inclined to get stuck on practicalities. And, of course, we only truly appreciate what we have been given when there’s a real chance that these same things will be taken away. It is only through death that we really learn to live.

As Charles Darwin said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Try using a narrative of rapidly changing circumstances and ultimately the imminent extinction of your organisation to radically revaluate where you are going and how you might get there.

Write an obituary for your organisation and then treat it as a strategy for reincarnation.

Carpe diem.

***

Richard Watson is Futurist in Residence within the Foresight Practice at Imperial London. He is founder and editor of nowandnext.com, a website that documents global trends. He has worked extensively on scenario planning projects, and has written five books about various aspects of the future.

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5 simple ways to get leadership buy-in for digital transformation

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– Daniel Rowles, Programme Director of our Digital Transformation Strategy course and CEO of TargetInternet.com

When leading digital transformation, a thorny patch you are likely to encounter is securing buy-in from senior stakeholders within your organisation. Whether through a lack of understanding of the benefits of going digital, or sometimes out of personal interest (some stakeholders will cling to the status quo on which their careers were built), you are likely to meet some opposition in your work to drive digital transformation.

This is why we put participants on our Digital Transformation Strategy short course through a Digital Strategy ‘dragon’s den’ on their final day, where they pitch their strategy proposals to a panel of industry and academic experts.

Here are five simple strategies to help you leverage your diplomatic skills and gain that crucial buy-in:

1. Balance change and continuity

Within every successful business is a legacy worth keeping – including brand, strategic position and audience.

Showing leadership that you understand this is key. You need to reassure them that digital change will carry the business forward.

This point will be easier to get across if you can provide case studies of other companies that have successfully implemented a digital strategy without compromising their existing brand.

 

If you can show your leaders how your digital project could strike a balance between continuity and change, you will likely improve your chances of getting their buy-in.

2. Know your audience and what motivates them

Who are your leaders and what do they like? You can use this information to identify cultural touchpoints that will help you connect with them.

Everyone likes and expects to be rewarded when their actions benefit the company. In a corporate leader’s case, this means getting credit for making smart decisions on key issues like digital transition.

Why not offer a senior leader the opportunity to act as a figurehead for the project, or even as a bridge between the digital transformation team and top-level management? Through such an arrangement, they can earn fully deserved credit for their role in the project and you gain a valuable advocate and champion.

3. Make sure they’re up to speed on what you’re doing

Senior team members in any business are often ridiculously busy. If you’re involved in a complex digital project, they will often be coming to it cold whenever you meet up.

With this in mind, try introducing your progress meetings with short, sharp recaps on the project’s status (“As you remember, last time we met we signed this off; this session we’re doing X, Y, Z.”).

Most consultancies do this sort of thing as a matter of course, but when you’re working within an organisation it can be easy to forget that your project may not be as fresh in everyone else’s mind as it is in yours.

4. Demonstrate ROI

Digital projects can be brilliantly measurable, which provides digital champions with a prime opportunity to make a fact-based case for digital.

 

Digital projects can be brilliantly measurable, which provides digital champions with a prime opportunity to make a fact-based case for digital.

 

If your corporate leaders are particularly focused on ROI, you might also consider proposing that your team will work using the agile methodology, which uses ROI as the measure to determine which job gets done next. On a regular basis (typically weekly or fortnightly), the team’s financials are measured and the project/activity with the best ROI gets put straight to the top of the to-do list.

5. Make digital fun, familiar, interesting and engaging

There’s an incredible variety of ways to engage, inform, and even delight audiences using digital. Making the most of these opportunities is an absolute must when you’re pitching a digital project to leadership.

A key rule to bear in mind if your audience is non-technical is to highlight the most important functionalities and outcomes, rather than technical details. Outcomes are what matters to corporate leaders.

If you’ve ticked off all five points from this article, your leaders should now be convinced that your digital project offers the right balance of change and continuity, and will deliver strong ROI for the business. They will have a good handle on what you’re working on, and they’ll think of your team as engaging, interesting stakeholders in the organisation. Finally, they’ll understand that digital is not a threat to their career; it’s an opportunity. These factors combine to provide a great chance of corporate buy-in for digital.

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Adapted from: https://www.targetinternet.com/5-ways-to-get-leadership-buy-in-for-digital-transformation/

3 takeaways from Imperial Business in the City: Coaching as a Leadership Style

Resourse

Over 100 HR directors and senior leaders shared their experiences of coaching at Imperial Business in the City: Coaching as a Leadership Style.

The conversation was led by three speakers with decades of experience of coaching and leadership development: Frans Campher, CEO of leadership development consultancy Integral Leadership Dynamics; Brian Murphy, formerly Head of Learning and Leadership Development for Citi in EMEA; and Professor Nelson Phillips, Abu Dhabi Chamber Chair in Innovation and Strategy at Imperial Business School.

Here are three takeaways from the evening’s conversation:

1. Leaders who coach increase their personal effectiveness and have more motivated staff

Frans Campher argued that to be successful leaders must ‘expand’ beyond middle management tasks like problem-solving and organising, and multiply their impact by creating the context for others to succeed.

Coaching can play a key role in this transition. By empowering others through coaching a leader can unlock the time they need to be strategic, clarify their vision, and think about the longer term.

Moreover, as Imperial’s Professor Nelson Phillips noted, “leaders who develop people are leaders people want to follow”.

2. Coaching isn’t a cure-all

However, Campher cautioned that coaching is not a panacea. Coaching must happen at the right time, in the right context, and the recipient must be receptive. The ability to assess people and situations and judge what kind of conversation is appropriate is a key leadership quality.

For example, if a staff member is resistant to change or not willing to engage with a process, then coaching is not appropriate for them. Similarly, a crisis situation may demand a ‘command-and-control’ leadership style.

3. Coaching delivers the best returns in these three areas

Brian Murphy identified three areas where coaching can be deployed most effectively within organisations:

To support leaders and managers through transitions

For Murphy, leaders are most open to coaching when they are going through an important change like taking on a new role or major project.

To create a high-performance culture

Coaching conversations can be a highly effective means of driving performance in organisations. Murphy shared how Citi encouraged managers to structure their one-to-one conversations with staff around three questions:

  • What have you done since we last met?
  • What have you learnt from these activities?
  • What would you do differently next time?

Adopting a coaching approach like this is a cost-effective and simple way to promote accountability and continuous improvement.

To build leadership capability

In Murphy’s experience, coaching is one of the most effective leadership development tools money can buy, with returns on investment often seven-fold.

Frans Campher and Nelson Phillips are the programme co-directors of our executive education programme Leadership in a Technology Driven World.

Building on Imperial’s unique positioning as a leader in both technology and business research and education, this programme gives executives stepping up to senior level management positions the tools to lead in the rapidly changing technological context of modern business.

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Frans Campher and Nelson Phillips are the programme co-directors of our executive education programme Leadership in a Technology Driven World. Building on Imperial’s unique positioning as a leader in both technology and business research and education, t

Learn more about our Leadership in a Technology Driven World short course

Welcome guide to South Kensington

Welcome to Imperial Business School and welcome to South Kensington – the cultural and intellectual hub of London. The origins of South Kensington as a centre for learning and culture date back to the Great Exhibition of 1851 which took place in nearby Hyde Park – the legacy of which has been commemorated in the naming of Exhibition Road. Wishing to bring education and culture to the masses, Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert set out his vision of South Kensington as a cultural Mecca filled with museums and institutions promoting art, music, science, culture and history. The area coined the name ‘Albertopolis’ in the 1850’s and while Albert died in 1861 before his vision was fully realised, the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens now watches over the area.

Home to the Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Science Museum, Royal Albert Hall, and of course Imperial London, the area remains a hive of cultural and intellectual activity over 150 years after its first conception. 

Attractions:

Natural History Museum

Arguably the most famous and recognisable of the museums, the Natural History Museum draws around 5 million visitors per year. The famous Diplodocus ‘Dippy’ who was resident of the central entrance hall for almost 40 years has recently gone on tour around UK museums and has been replaced by a giant 25 metre long Blue Whale skeleton. Split into zones covering Earth, Volcanoes, Mammals, Dinosaurs, Birds, Human Biology, Minerals and Ecology to name but a few – it’s impossible to see everything in one visit but as entry is free you can keep coming back time and time again without spending a penny (unless you get enticed into one of the gift shops). Be sure to visit at Christmas when the famous Natural History Museum Ice Rink opens for some festive fun!

Natural History Museum

Science Museum

Our next door neighbours have been a resident of Exhibition Road since 1857 and operated as ‘The Science Museum’ since 1909. The ever-expanding collection contains steam engines from the Industrial Revolution, satellites from the Space Age and everything in between. They hold themed late night events the last Wednesday of every month – past events have included silent discos, hula hoop workshops, and talks on topics from freak shows to the last Tsars of Russia. Entry to the museum is free but exhibitions and other events may charge.

Science Museum

V&A Museum

Named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the V&A museum is the largest museum of design and decorative arts in the world! Formerly known as the South Kensington Museum, it was renamed the V&A museum in 1899 – Queen Victoria’s last public appearance. If you look at the exterior of the building on Exhibition Road, you can see the bomb damage from the Blitz of World War II, left as an enduring reminder of the values of the museum in a time of conflict. Today the collection is split into four departments; 1. Asia, 2. Furniture, Textiles and Fashion, 3. Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics & Glass, 4. Word & Image. It holds the work of some of the world’s leading fashion designers including Coco Chanel, Cristobal Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino Garavani. Entry is free but exhibitions and events may charge.

Victoria Albert Museum

Kensington Palace

The official residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate) and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan), Kensington Palace was built in 1605 and has played host to a number of British monarchs over the years. It was the birthplace of Queen Victoria and she was the first person to open the palace to the public in 1898. Today, you can explore state apartments of Queen Mary II from the 1690’s and of King George II from the 1700’s as well as exhibitions on Queen Victoria and Princess Diana. Kensington Palace gardens are also open to the public and entry is free – the Sunken Garden is definitely worth a visit. Take a picnic and sit by the round pond – but be careful the swans don’t take off with your lunch!

Kensington Palace

Royal Albert Hall

Officially opened to the public in March 1871 by HRH The Prince of Wales on behalf of his mother, HM Queen Victoria, who was in attendance but too upset to speak as the hall was named after her late husband Prince Albert who had died 10 years earlier. The stage at the Royal Albert Hall has been graced by some of the most famous artists in the world including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. The hall hosts the annual BBC Proms, a series of orchestral classical music concerts that take place across 8 weeks of the summer. Tours of the music hall are available.

Eating and Drinking:

Bumpkin

Located on Old Brompton Road, Bumpkin is a modern British ‘gastropub’, serving British classics such as Fish and Chips and Sausage & Mash, as well as modern dishes such as Curried Ox Cheek and Candied Beets Salad. The food is really high quality and uses fresh seasonal British produce. They have a set menu Monday-Friday until 4pm where you can get 2 courses for £15.95 or 3 courses for £21.95. Fun fact – Bumpkin was featured in an episode of British reality show Made in Chelsea.

Bumpkin

Stein’s Berlin

Recently opened, Stein’s Berlin Bar and Restaurant sits directly opposite Imperial Business School on Princes Gate and is bringing a taste of Germany to South Kensington. The interior is what I would describe as ‘minimal chalet chic’ – very on trend right now. Renowned for its beer – Stein’s offers a wide range of German beers available in huge steins, from classic Paulaner Lager of Munich to modern Heidi Blonde craft beer produced in Elephant & Castle. Perhaps Schnapps and cocktails are more your bag? The Applestrudel Martini is delicious! They also have a great food menu to soak up all of that alcohol – it’s very traditional (and delicious) German fayre and the meter long sausage platter is not to be missed! Prost!

Steins Berlin

Eastside

A firm favourite amongst staff and students alike – Eastside is located in Prince’s gardens on the ground floor of Linstead Hall. Serving pints of beer for around £3.60 – very competitively priced for London – this is the go-to spot on campus for cheap and cheerful food and drinks. The pizzas are HUGE and will only set you back around £8. Eastside is the perfect venue for you to grab a quick lunch between lectures or meet up with friends in the evenings. It gets busy on a Friday afternoon as Imperial staff and students pop over for a post-work drink – you may even see us there from time to time.

Eastside

Lido Café and Bar

The Lido Café and Bar located on the banks of The Serpentine in Hyde Park is the perfect spot for those #summervibes Instagram posts. On a sunny day you can sit outside and watch the swimmers brave the cold waters in the Lido and people-watch for hours. It might not have quite the same atmosphere in winter, but the food is really good!

Lido

South Kensington Farmers Market

Held on campus every Tuesday on the Queen’s Lawn, the South Kensington Farmers Market is a great place to grab some delicious street food at lunchtime. There’s a wide range of cuisines from all over the world and plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, all using fresh local and seasonal produce. You can also pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, jams and chutneys! Some stalls do accept card payments – the market runs from 09:00-14:00.

Discover South Kensington

To keep up to date on the latest goings on you can visit the Discover South Kensington website and sign up to their newsletter.

South Kensington is a great place to work and study and I hope you enjoy getting to know the area. Make the most of your time here at Imperial Business School –and good luck with your programme and future careers!

Helen Richardson

About Helen Richardson

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Meet the Dean’s Student Advisory Council

Dean Student Advisory Council Dinner

We are very proud of the Dean’s Student Advisory Council who were recently awarded the Student Award for Societal Engagement at the President’s Awards for Excellence in Societal Engagement.

We speak to the Chair of the Council, Shaayann Khalid, about what they do and why future students should become involved.

Who are the Dean’s Student Advisory Council?

Launched in 2015, the Dean’s Student Advisory Council is the highest level of leadership in the Business School. It provides a platform for students to connect with Professor Francisco Veloso, Associate Dean of Programmes, Leila Guerra, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programmes, Edgar Meyer, and Student Experience Manager, Julia McShane, to improve the student experience in all facets of School life.

The Council is made up of the Chair, Advisor and five Deputy Chairs. Shaayann Khalid was elected Chair of the MSc International Health Management programme before taking over the role of Chair of the Council from Mobeen Iqbal.

The Deputy Chairs are a new initiative of the Council this year. Shaayann says:

We wanted to reformat how the Council was structured this year to introduce Deputy Chairs. Each programme already had a Chair and leaders of Academics, Careers and Socials. We wanted to put one Chair in charge of that respective role across the Business School.

From next year, The Council will also be introducing an additional Societal Outreach leader for each programme as we acknowledge the importance of engaging with our community.

What do the Council do?

The Council are trailblazers in the Business School, working tirelessly on projects to make the students’ time at Imperial the best and most enriching it can possibly be.

One of the most notable projects they have led is What The Tech?!, a digital literacy programme launched in mid-2017 to help elderly residents near our White City campus with their technology needs. Launched by Mobeen, What The Tech?! run weekly drop-in sessions with volunteers from the Business School.

The success of the project is demonstrated by its accolades. Mobeen received the President’s Outstanding Student Achievement Award and the Council won the President’s Award for Excellence in Societal Engagement.

One of the other major projects the Council has been working on is the handover between this and next year’s Council. Having sat on the Council for three years, Mobeen has a unique insight into the triumphs and challenges of this transition. He says:

Given our students are typically at the Business School for one year, it is difficult to keep the momentum going with the Council’s projects and sustain some form of continuity. Being new to the Business School means it can be challenging being Chair as you’d be unfamiliar with the best way to run projects and it would take time to figure out what the previous Council has done.

To remedy this problem, they established a new Advisor position to be filled by the outgoing chair. Mobeen was appointed the inaugural Advisor, and he oversees the Council and helps with the handover in a non-operational capacity.

Another initiative is getting feedback from the current class and making sure it carries through to the next year. Shaayann says:

Feedback from students in recent years has been really important in shaping the student experience and, moving forward, the feedback from this year will be just as important. What we’re doing is closing the feedback loop – asking ourselves what the students want and what we can do to make it happen.

The Council held an open forum with students across all programmes to get their feedback on their experience this year – from what they loved to what they would have changed. The Council’s main focus at the moment is to make sure the incoming Council receive this and this feedback continues to improve the student experience. Shaayann says:

The Open Forum gave us so much valuable insight on how students felt about their time at the Business School, what student leaders can do to keep improving the student experience, and how we can best equip the Council with the tools to bring the student voice to life.

Putting the ‘Dean’ in Dean’s Student Advisory Council

With the ‘Dean’ front and centre in the title, it comes as no surprise that the Council members get to work closely with all the Deans of the Business School.

The Associate Deans are present at their termly meetings. All of the Deans and the Student Experience Manager also attend events with the Council where they get to mingle with them on a more personal level. Shaayann says:

Working with the Dean, Associate Deans and the Student Experience Manager is really a pleasure. Change isn’t easy, but when you’re able to work with a team that’s so willing to listen to and engage with students, it really makes the work we do that much more meaningful. We’re lucky to have leaders like them shaping the legacy of our school, and the Council is even luckier to work with them.

Getting to work with Francisco Veloso is incredible. The entire Dean’s Student Advisory Council went to dinner with him the other day and it was amazing. He’s such an inspiring guy and a cool person to sit down with and hear his stories. He’s also really engaged which is super important. As we move forward and engage with the students, it’s really important that the higher-ups are engaging with us as well so we have this really clean cycle of conversation and communication between every level of leadership.

The Council urge future students of the Business School to get involved and take on a leadership position. Not only does student leadership have huge benefits for your future career, it gives you the opportunity to contribute to social change on campus.

Meet the Dean’s Student Advisory Council

The Council is made up of the Chair, Shaayann Khalid, Advisor, Mobeen Iqbal, and the Deputy Chairs Daniela Fuerst, MSc Finance & Accounting, Hiba Mahmood, MSc Economics & Strategy for Business, Hassan Sheikh, MSc Strategic Marketing, Maya Skinner, MSc Climate Change, Management & Finance and Jonathan (Femi) Williamson-Taylor, Intercalated BSc (Management).

Mobeen Iqbal, Doctoral student – Advisor

In my role as Advisor, I oversee the Council’s progress in a non-operational capacity and am available for the Chair to contact at any time for advice. I also, quite cheekily, attend the socials – more so to network with the Council, of course, and not for the free food and beverages…

I’m so proud of all the work the Council has done over the years and I’m delighted to have been a part of it. The biggest accomplishment has got to be the establishment of the What The Tech?! project which is on-going and has received a lot of praise, not only from the Business School and College, but also the White City community. The founding of this project was also recognised formally by Imperial. With this recognition, we have set an example for what student leaders can achieve at Imperial and I’m very proud of the accomplishments of Councils past and president, and I can’t wait to see what future Councils achieve as well.

Hiba Mahmood, MSc Economics & Strategy for Business – Deputy Chair of Careers

My role as Deputy Chair of Careers involves coordinating the Careers leaders from all the programmes at the Business School. We have a wonderful team of ambitious and committed individuals using their experience with the student recruitment process to address student concerns. I also work closely with Imperial Business School Careers to provide feedback on the student career experience.

The best part of being on the Council is the opportunity to engage with other student Chairs in the Business School. It is wonderful to have the platform to raise issues in the presence of Associate Deans and work with other chairs to transform our vision for the school into a reality.

Hassan Sheikh, MSc Strategic Marketing – Deputy Chair of Societal Engagement

My role as Deputy Chair of Societal Engagement involves looking for volunteering opportunities for students, particularly those at the Business School and being the main point of contact and student leader for our societal outreach programme, What the Tech?! The programme entails teaching elderly citizens digital literacy skills once a week, and we even ran a successful fundraiser during the year!

My favourite part of being on the Council is definitely the people. It allowed me to make friends from across the Business School and allowed me to get involved in other ways too, like being one of the hosts for the Annual Business School Talent Show! Everyone at the Business School was so approachable. Faculty and staff in particular are genuine and always consider feedback and suggestions from the Council.

Maya Skinner, MSc Climate Change, Management & Finance – Deputy Chair of Academics

My role as Deputy Chair of Academics is predominantly organising meetings for the academic reps throughout the Business School, to discuss problems and solutions relating to the academic side of the student experience. Meetings also involve brainstorming and implementing new projects to help and enhance the academic experience of current and future students. Deputy Chair of Academics also supports the Chair (Shaayann) in organising many initiatives.

My favourite part of being on the Council is getting to meet and work with a diverse range of motivated students across the Business School to continuously improve the experience of current and future students.

Jonathan (Femi) Williamson-Taylor, Intercalated BSc (Management) – Deputy Chair of Careers Clubs

This year saw a lot of changes in the structure and management of the clubs, and this exposed a variety of opportunities and challenges. In the first half of the year, I worked closely with both Careers and their administrative leads to communicate these changes and ensure committees had all the support they needed. The second half of the year largely involved working with the Business School to revise functions and processes behind the Careers Club clubs in view of the following academic year.

Aside from the occasional social event and free wine, I love being part of the Business School’s decision-making apparatus. As a member of the Council, you have a privileged view of the School and the way it actually runs, as well as the opportunity to make significant contributions to the student experience. It’s a blessing to have been able to meet so many unique but equally motivated students as part of the Council.

Gaining real consulting experience with global companies on MSc Management

Lamborghini HQ MSc Management

The MSc Management consulting project elective in the summer term gives students the opportunity to apply all of the skills achieved on the programme to a live client project.

Working in teams, students were assigned to work on a project for a company. For three weeks, students analyse the problem, integrating theoretical knowledge with practical skills relevant to industry.

They work closely with the company to ensure they understand the project scenario and ultimately deliver value to the client. Some of this year’s companies were Accenture, Automobile Lamborghini, EY, Capco, Deloitte, Johnson & Johnson and Mercato Metropolitano to name a few.

They worked on projects in areas including AI, blockchain, customer experience, client retention and replicating business models.

At the end of the consulting project, the teams presented their findings to a panel of judges made up of academics and the corporate representatives from their companies. They then write a final report that could be used by practising managers at the companies.

We speak to students and company leads from the Automobili Lamborghini and Capco consulting projects to find out about their experience.

Automobili Lamborghini

The team working on the Automobili Lamborghini was Marisa Chayavivatkul, Manchal Kumar, Saad Malik, Bowen Pan, Michael Reingruber and Calum Smith. They were guided by Matteo Cangelosi, Project Manager of Simultaneous Engineering Teams and MSc Management 2014-15 alumnus.

Student experience: Marisa Chayavivatkul

What was it like to work with Lamborghini? How was your experience visiting the Lamborghini HQ in Italy?

Working with Lamborghini was surreal. We felt really honoured to get the consulting case with Lamborghini after submitting our pitch for the project. Visiting the Lamborghini offices in Italy may have been the highlight of my time at Imperial. We felt really lucky to have been given this opportunity. We got to visit their manufacturing facilities as well as talk and present to some notable people. We were even able to squeeze in some good food and a quick trip to Milan with the team.

How did it feel to be presenting your project to a panel of industry experts? How did you prepare for the presentation?

Initially, I was very nervous. Before we presented to the project management team in Bologna, Italy, we all stayed in our Airbnb practicing the entire day, even practicing our lines on the cab ride to the HQ. However, once there, our practice and late night sessions paid off and we were able to come together and deliver a good presentation. This helped us not feel nervous the second time when we presented at Imperial. I think the best thing to do to prepare for a presentation like this is to not memorise the presentation. We all knew the information very well so that helped us a lot.

Do you feel like you’ve made a real impact with the project?

Coming into it, I didn’t know how much value we would be able to deliver, but after we presented to the project team at the Lamborghini HQ in Bologna, Italy, we all felt as though we made a real impact on the project. The feedback we received from the project management team, especially the Head of Project Management Department, Massimo Fumarola, was something we did not expect. We were told that they’d like to adopt one of our recommendations and see it come to fruition. Massimo as well as Matteo, the Project Management Coordinator, said we had done an excellent job.

Client experience: Matteo Cangelosi, Project Manager of Simultaneous Engineering Teams

How was the team’s presentation at the Lamborghini HQ?

The students visited the Lamborghini HQ the week before the presentation. They presented to the department Director, who is part of the board of Lamborghini, and the whole project management department. They presented for 40 minutes about their project and then we had a one hour discussion where we exchanged ideas. We were really happy with their ideas and presentation. The team were the strongest we have had in the three years of doing the consulting project with Imperial.

Did you enjoy working with Imperial students on this consulting project?

Throughout the project, we had weekly calls to update and review their project. That was really enjoyable because we could see the project was slowly taking place and getting its structure. They were really listening to what I told them. Every week, they sent me their reports which updated me on the project. We would review and discuss it together. They explained to me how they researched things and came up with results. I was trying to guide them in the direction that the company actually wanted to go in so we can actually work on it.

Also, they are young students coming from London, which is a city that has continuous movement and innovation. We’re from a small town in the middle of the countryside in Italy, so there is not as big a culture of innovation. It’s always good to have an insight for projects on innovation and new technologies with students from Imperial.

Do you see long-term implementation of the work that has been done on the project?

We have a new boss this year and he’s really keen on product changes and innovation. He said some of the project ideas were really good. After we receive their final report, we will share their findings and some of their ideas may be developed and implemented with the new branding department. It was a good base to start with because it was a project on the sharing economy, which is something that we were unaware of and it has given us good background knowledge to use in the future.

Capco

The team working on the Capco project was made up of Jacqueline Burks, Aidan Curran, Georgie Davies, Michael Miceli, Alexander Reed and Taylor Yu. Their project lead was Alex Lawson, Associate Consultant at Capco and MSc Management 2014-15 alumnus

Student experience: Alex Reed

How did you benefit from working with Capco on the consulting project?

Working with Capco allowed us to understand more about innovative technologies in the context of London’s financial services industry. We were able to identify, analyse, and solve problems, providing solutions surrounding disruption from industry-transforming revolutions. Being based in London meant that we were able to interact with some of the biggest brand-name companies when carrying out extensive face-to-face research. The project had a very niche focus which really allowed us to drill-down our analysis.

How did you apply learnings from your MSc Management to the project?

Having developed business acumen throughout the Master’s, seeing improvement in our presentation skills and having experience of case studies in the classroom, it was possible to apply learned theory to the real-life situation of our client with complete confidence. Having a holistic understanding of practical knowledge and being able to integrate these abilities to the client situation really allowed us to see our studies pay dividends in the form of successful client interaction and project execution.

What was the most enjoyable part of the project?

The teamwork aspect of the project has proven to make the consulting experience incredibly enjoyable. In fact, being able to see an improvement in each and every member of the team, in comparison to the beginning of the academic year, is really quite something and it makes you realise the huge steps that we’ve made over the past year due to the growth opportunities that we’ve been faced with.

Client experience: Alex Lawson, Associate Consultant, Capco

How did you find working with Imperial students on this consulting project?

It’s excellent to get a fresh perspective from a group of genuinely very intelligent and enthusiastic students who have training from a world-leading institution. It’s a wonderful position to be in to have the sustained attention, enthusiasm and engagement of these individuals and I’ve been very impressed with them. I’ve found it incredibly interesting to watch how their approach has changed as they got stuck into it and watching how they adapted to different challenges the project threw their way.

The consulting project was far and beyond the most incredible part of my MSc Management programme. I remember really relishing the amount of free reign they gave us to really use the skills we had learnt up to that point. It was a real highlight and I was excited about getting stuck in with this project.

How have you benefited from working with Imperial students?

From my perspective, something which I wouldn’t understate is how useful it is to be the client for a change. I work as a consultant and it’s a really helpful lens to have. It certainly gave me the occasion to pause for a bit of introspection of how I deal and engage with my clients. That was something I wasn’t expecting which was very useful and interesting.

Do you see long-term implementation of the work that has been done on the project?

The question that I posed to them has some very specific strategic impact for the direction of Capco. I was very impressed by how considerate and well-structured some of their observations were. I hope I can provide them with a wider platform at Capco at the end of the project so they have the opportunity to disseminate their findings more widely for the benefit of the company. From what I have seen, the project should be taken very seriously.

Celebrating 20 years of MSc Finance at the London Stock Exchange

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Marking the anniversary of 20 successful years of MSc Finance, over 160 alumni, students and faculty on the programme congregated at a special event at the London Stock Exchange.

Over the last 20 years, the finance industry has faced a period of uncertainty and disruption, driven in part by the revolution of technology. Despite the ever-changing industry, our MSc Finance has continued to equip students with the skills that will be relevant to the industry today and into the future.

MSc Finance is ranked 12th in the world by the FT and has the highest application rate on a postgraduate programme at Imperial London. This year we are very proud that MSc Finance has achieved gender parity with 50% female students for the first time in 20 years.

The London Stock Exchange was abuzz with excited chatter as alumni reminisced with their former classmates and caught-up with the faculty members who guided them through their degrees. Students had the opportunity to network with, and get advice from alumni, as they embark on their career in finance.

Networking was put on hold for the main event of the night, Professor David Miles in conversation with the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney. Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial Business School, opened the talk with a warm welcome.

Lara Cathcart

This was followed by a speech from Dr Lara Cathcart, Academic Director of MSc Finance and MSc Risk Management & Financial Engineering. Lara has been with the programme since day one and was an integral figure in the launch of the MSc Finance 20 years ago. She reflected on the early days of the programme:

I cannot believe it has been 20 years since we launched this MSc Finance. I can still remember the conversation we were having at the time. Would there be enough demand for such a degree in finance? How many students would we be able to attract? Needless to say, whatever doubts we had about the viability of such a Master’s, they were dismissed very early on.

Lara attributed the success of the programme to the experience and foresight of previous Academic Directors, the great finance programme team, world-class faculty and the students and alumni, who she said are our greatest ambassadors.

MSc Finance 20 years Feature

We spoke to alumni, Advisory Board members and students about their experience on MSc Finance and the anniversary event.

Ali Akbar Ahsan

MSc Finance 1999. Partner at Magellan Capital.

“The MSc Finance is truly multidisciplinary and unique in this respect. It was an innovative idea at the time of its launch and has stood the test of time, demonstrating its value then and now. It helped me secure my first role with Barclays and played an important role in my career progression since.”

Pallavi Bhalla

Current MSc Finance student.

“The event tonight was a great experience. It was really nice to hear Mark Carney speak about his experiences, what he thinks the trends are going to be in the future. It was a nice way to interact with alumni and everyone on my programme in a more informal setting.”

Daniella Llanos Flores

MSc Finance 2012. Senior Market Risk Manager at Credit Suisse.

“The MSc Finance programme was key in kick-starting my career in financial services. The solid technical skills training gave me an advantage versus other candidates – Imperial’s MSc Finance curriculum is definitely amongst the best in the UK. Additionally, in my case in particular, it was the alumni network that allowed me to find and get my first set of interviews upon finishing the degree. As a matter of fact, it was through an alumnus that I found a position in Credit Suisse’s Market Risk department.”

Robert McWilliam

MSc Finance Advisory Board. Managing Director at ING Bank.

“I am a banker with 30 years’ experience in capital markets and PRMIA Global Board member.  I bring some of my work challenges and observations to the Board so the programme remains current. Quantitative skills are a core requirement in banking.  I can – and have – employed an Imperial Business School MSc student and know that they will make an immediate contribution.”

Maeva Montagnier

MSc Finance 2017. Fixed Income Capital Markets Analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“I chose to do another Master’s because I really wanted to work in London in a top-tier bank, and I knew that my first degree was not enough to get me this. I chose Imperial because the MSc was ranked number one in the UK, provided the ability to tailor the programme to the skills I wanted to develop during the year. It also has a very strong reputation with employers who value and recognise the quality of Imperial’s graduates.”

About Nicole Pires

Content Marketing Manager
Nicole is the Content Marketing Manager for Programmes Marketing.

Weekend MBA student launches the LGBTQ+ Business Club

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LGBTQ Shirts

Ivan Kovynyov, a student on the Weekend MBA, has launched the Business School’s first LGBTQ+ Business Club. With the tagline Imperial means Inclusive Business, this new club highlights our commitment to diversity at Imperial.

The Business School careers clubs are student-led clubs which bring together MBA and MSc students with similar areas of career interest and/or professional backgrounds. The LGBTQ+ Business Club joins a sleuth of other careers clubs which focus on the finance, consulting, FMCG, luxury good and retail, healthcare and many more sectors.

Rather than focusing on a particular sector, the role of the LGBTQ+ Business Club is to provide a platform to connect Imperial business students with leading companies and institutions who want to hire inclusively.

Ivan Kovynyov founded the club with the Business School. He identified the need for an LGBTQ+ Business Club through his Personal Leadership Journey module on the Weekend MBA. He says:

The idea for the club came from my Interview a Leader project on the MBA Personal Leadership Journey module. I interviewed European senior business executives, entrepreneurs and public officials who have successfully developed their careers being openly LGBTQ+. Recently, I have come to realise that companies, such as McKinsey, Bain, Amazon, Google, Goldman, JPMorgan, PwC, have discovered LGBTQ+ as a new source of talent. Therefore, the number of targeted recruiting events has significantly risen over the last years.

Echoing Ivan’s comments, the Financial Times published a piece titled “Doors open for gay MBA graduates”. In the article, journalist Della Bradshaw discusses the focus on diversity in the workplace and the commitment from top companies to recruit from the LGBTQ+ talent pool.

Sarah Ranchev-Hale, Assistant Director of Careers, Employer Relations, discusses how she has seen this trend in the Business School. She says:

More and more companies have recognised the benefits of a diverse workforce, many have put strategies in place to target diverse candidates, including LGBTQ+. We regularly get requests from companies to support them in recruiting LGBTQ+ candidates, and the club is an integral part of this process.

Members and allies

The club currently has members from the Weekend MBA, Full-Time MBA, Global Online MBA and the Master’s suite of programmes. They also encourage allies/advocates of the LGBTQ+ community to join.

Ivan says, “It is all about inclusion. If we created a business club for LGBTQ+ members only, it would totally miss the point. We welcome everyone to the club who wants to promote inclusion and diversity and stands for these values. Currently, around a third of our members are straight allies.”

On the club’s agenda

Over the past couple of months, Ivan has been busy connecting with people from top companies to engage with the LGBTQ+ Business Club.

He says, “We were able to establish first corporate partnerships and engage with companies in the UK, Germany and Switzerland. We added Director of Corporate Partnerships to our executive committee and appointed Jerry Chen to this position.”

First on the agenda is a speaker series in conjunction with LinkedIn. The first speaker will be Josh Graff, the UK Country Manager and Vice-President, EMEA at LinkedIn, who is a role model for top senior executives being openly gay. He also made the 2016 OUTstanding and FT rankings list.

LGTBQ Committee

The Executive Committee

The club maintains a small, focused executive committee which is made up of:

  • Ivan Kovynyov, President and Founder (Weekend MBA)
  • Umberto Kone, Vice President, (MSc Management)
  • Daniel Chew, CFO (Weekend MBA)
  • Julia Yu, Marketing Director (Weekend MBA)
  • Sthephany van Oordt, Director of Programmes & Services (Weekend MBA)
  • Jerry Chen, Director of Corporate Partnerships (MSc Investment & Wealth Management)
  • Izak Nel, Master’s Programmes Ambassador (MSc Business Analytics)

From left to right: Umberto Kone, Izak Nel, Ivan Kovynyov and Daniel Chew

We speak to some of the members of the executive committee on why they joined the club and what they are hoping to achieve in its first year.

Umberto Kone, Vice President, (MSc Management)

Why did you join the Imperial Business School LGBTQ+ Careers Club?

When I was deciding to join Imperial, I was wondering whether Imperial Business School had an LGBTQ+ club and had a student look into it for me. Then I found out in May that Ivan was setting up the LGBTQ+ Business Club. Now that the whole September cohort has arrived, it is really exciting.

What are the benefits and challenges of starting a new society?

The benefit is that you can structure it the way that you want. I feel a lot of pressure because the first event will set the precedent of how the society will be. The downside is that all the eyes are going to be on you and there is pressure. I founded the LGBTQ+ club at my last university, so I done this before and I like the challenge. This time I have the Imperial platform and brand – companies are really attracted to working with us. I think we can do something really big and nice for the LGBTQ+ society.

What are you hoping to achieve as Vice President?

Since I’m doing my MSc Management, I have more exposure to the Master’s students and I’m trying to get more MSc students involved. That’s something that I’m aiming to achieve. I also want to set the level for the next years to come so that more students are eager to join in the future.

Jerry Chen, Director of Corporate Partnerships (MSc International Health Management)

Why did you join the Imperial Business School LGBTQ+ Careers Club?

I have always been very involved with LGBTQ+ initiatives in both academic and professional settings – I chaired the Boston College LGBTQ Leadership Council and was involved with the LGBTQ Affinity Network while working at Goldman Sachs. I believe people, regardless of their sexual orientation, deserve to feel comfortable and confident being who they are whether in school or at work.

What are you hoping to achieve in your role as Director of Corporate Partnerships?

I hope to promote awareness around workplace inclusivity. As well as promoting opportunities of corporate-level recruiting initiatives to identifying members.

Izak Nel, Master’s Programmes Ambassador (MSc Business Analytics)

Why did you join the Imperial Business School LGBTQ+ Careers Club?

I want to be actively involved in creating a space where LGBTQ+ and allied students can connect with diverse and inclusive prospective employers. Inclusivity is non-negotiable and while many companies are already embracing diversity, we need to ensure that this is the standard across all industries, and in all companies. I want to make sure no LGBTQ+ student feels unsupported in building their career!

What are you hoping to achieve as Master’s Programmes Ambassador?

The club originated within the MBA cohorts, so we wanted to have a dedicated ambassador to the MSc programmes. As more Master’s students are first-time job seekers, we want to give them, as well as returning job-seekers access to employers where their careers will excel and their diversity will be celebrated.

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