City MD and former student, Gavin Lewis says the city is still under-represented by Black leaders and that today’s students need to foster a culture of ambition and resilience to succeed.
The financial industry leader, who last year published a book on the topic titled, The Opportunity Index: A Solution-Based Framework to Dismantle the Racial Wealth Gap (Wiley, 2023), made his comments at an event recently hosted by the University.
Speaking to a crowded room as well as an online audience of some 230 students and alumni, Lewis said that Black representation is lacking at the top both because of the selective recruiting practices of the finance profession in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and because the extra scrutiny faced by Black leaders leading high performing companies can take a heavy toll.
He told his own story of trying to get into the finance profession as a young Black state-educated man from Tottenham who had a part-time job at a supermarket throughout his time at university. Lewis did well in all the recruitment tests but fell down at interview because he was perceived to lack CV points like overseas volunteering. It was clear that the recruiters did not understand why he had to work through university rather than amassing internships. “So, I couldn’t get in. I ended up working in recruitment thinking if I get proximity to the industry, it might give me the experience that I need.”
He said: “As a minority, that journey is lonelier because your peer group probably doesn't look like you when you're in a leadership position. Everything you do is magnified and examined to a much greater degree. And the leeway to fail is a lot narrower. That is only ramped up when you're a Black man or Black woman or an Asian man or an Asian woman. So, the stakes are often higher. For many Black professionals, they often find that the further they go, the smaller the reward given the energy and emotion that it takes to get there and stay there. And many opt out.”
Lewis talked about how students with backgrounds like his should embrace the transferable skills which allow them to think differently and which are now valued by businesses. “It is attributes such as resilience, which we often talk about, grit, determination and work ethic. I think if you've faced adversity, if your story is similar to mine, you've had to navigate that environment to get to this point, then you have those attributes in spades. And from my perspective that is what allows people to excel in the workplace.”
This event was part of Queen Mary's Alumni Angles series, which brings inspiring members of our alumni community back to campus to speak about their experiences and areas of expertise to current and former students. Previous speakers have included BBC newsreader, Jane Hill, mentoring expert, Professor David Clutterbuck, Director of the Oxford Vaccines Group, Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, NASA robotics engineer, Dr Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, and former Managing Director of Twitter UK, Dara Nasr.
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