Fearless Diversity

Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe

Leaders are faced with dilemmas every day that flow from human interactions at work. And they are so often disruptive, time-consuming, potentially create division among your staff and test you as a leader. You need time to reflect…..you need space in the morning to listen to Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe eating these problems for breakfast. Fearless Diversity is the candid podcast that tackles the real dilemmas bosses, managers, and leaders face every day – around accountability, decision-making, workplace dynamics, conflict, and organisational culture and their people. Join Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe — two of the foremost thought leaders in workplace diversity, leadership, and inclusion — as they dive into honest conversations that get to the heart of it. We have the conversations you want to have. Rachel brings real-world, high-level implementation experience - expertise that CEOs and managers can trust, learn from, and enlist when they need results and to ensure their teams perform at their best. Simon adds his clout as a highly respected broadcaster, author, and inclusion specialist. They don’t always agree — and that’s the point. Rachel and Simon argue, disagree, and explore different perspectives, and always with resolution and insight – modelling the difficult conversations leaders need to have. It’s a podcast for thoughtful leaders who want to reflect, rather than shout or be shouted at. Fearless Diversity is the place to think differently about today’s trickiest human issues at work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Oct 26

    After the Conversation : Reflections on Alison Payne and Joanna Cherry

    Our Scottish special got people talking. So, we thought we'd keep the conversation going. Our conversation with Joanna Cherry KC and Alison Payne left us with plenty to chew over. Not least why the SNP has seemingly avoided paying what Alison called the 'wages of government', despite the decline in Scotland's public services. And whether any of the political parties are offering a vision for Scotland's future rather than simply promising to manage things a bit better. But what really got us talking was the lasting division left by the independence referendum. More than a decade on, the fault lines are still there. And that's where this conversation moves beyond Scottish politics and into the very heart of Fearless Diversity. How do we lead, work, and live alongside people with whom we fundamentally disagree? What does it take to repair relationships after a rupture? And why does how we treat one another matter just as much as what we believe? From political tribalism to fractured leadership teams, Rachel and Simon explore what it takes to work across profound disagreement, why impartiality is different from sitting on the fence, and the importance of rupture and repair. Because whether you're leading a country, a community, or an organisation, avoiding the difficult stuff doesn't make it disappear. There's also some homesickness for Edinburgh, a spirited disagreement about Scottish vocabulary and a rather unfortunate mangling of the First Minister's name. Fearless Diversity. Honest conversations about the things that divide us, and what it takes to work together despite them. Listen now and join the conversation. For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator   For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Oct 1

    Joanna Cherry and Alison Payne

    This week on Fearless Diversity, Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe are joined by former SNP MP and KC Joanna Cherry and Alison Payne, Research Director at the independent Scottish Think Tank Enlighten, for a big conversation about Scotland, power, identity and what happens next.Why has support for Scottish independence barely shifted since the seismic referendum of 2014? Why has the SNP been unable to deliver it? What does tactical voting tell us about what voters really think rather than what political parties think they think?We get into devolution, nationalism, the SNP, Scottish Conservatives, the new Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, recent international data on drug deaths and educational outcomes, gender identity politics, and why disagreement so easily becomes disloyalty.But this is also a conversation about something much bigger than Scotland.Can you believe passionately in a cause and still challenge your own side? And how do we escape “bucket politics” where believing one thing apparently requires you to believe another six things too?And finally, beyond division and constitutional wrangling: what is the opportunity for Scotland now?A conversation about disagreement, belonging, power and the possibility of a better politics.For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator   For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Jul 28

    Nazir Afzal

    Fearless Diversity | Live from Manchester with Nazir Afzal OBE   First in our new format of meeting, greeting, and interviewing some of the most interesting leaders and exploring what Fearless Diversity means for them.    On the day one of the men prosecuted for the Rochdale child sexual exploitation scandal was released from prison, Fearless Diversity recorded a live conversation with Nazir Afzal OBE at the REG Connect Race Equality Conference in Manchester.   The timing could hardly have been more significant. Nazir reflects on violence against women and girls, the enduring impact of child sexual exploitation, why accountability matters more than ever, and what happens when institutions stop asking difficult questions. He also explains why he has moved away from describing organisations as "institutionally racist", arguing instead that Britain's deeper challenge is a widening deficit of trust and accountability and what leaders can do to rebuild both.   This episode is about much more than policy. It is about Manchester. What is Manchesterism? Why has this city produced generations of people prepared to challenge power, confront injustice, and build communities that refuse to look away? What makes Manchester different and what can the rest of the country learn from it?   Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe explore these questions with one of the city's most influential public figures. Along the way, Nazir shares reflections on leadership, public service, moral courage, and his experience of advising the man, Andy Burnham MP, who now leads the country, offering a rare insight into the values and relationships that have shaped modern Manchester politics.   This is a conversation about more than race. It is about place. About leadership. About accountability. And about how we begin repairing trust at a time when so many people feel our institutions have lost their way.   Between each interview, we will be recording a reflection on the discussion and exploring what we wished we had asked and what we might follow up with. So, if you enjoyed this episode, let us know what you would like to ask Nazir. He has offered to join us again. Advance notice we have secured an interview with Alan Milbun who is due to launch his much-anticipated review of young people not in education or employment. Diversity of opportunity for young people and the fearless approach that Government and employers may have to face up to. Let us know what you would like to ask Alan Milburn.   Please do listen, like and share. For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator   For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. 12/18/2025

    12 Days of Fearless Diversity Xmas

    It’s Christmas. It’s almost the end of the year and it’s the latest episode of Fearless Diversity. Rachel and Simon polish off the twelve days of Christmas with their final six key issues of 2025.  In place of geese, swans, maids, ladies, lords, pipers and drummers, they surprised themselves to discover nuance, ethical dilemmas, previously unthought thoughts and a continuation of their honest examinations rather than ideological assumptions. Looking back over the issues that have touched people’s lives and lit our passions this year we explore assisted dying, academic freedom, data and privacy, impartiality and shifting media ownership and why we prefer politicians to be frank and straight-talking whatever party they come from.  Exploring our uncertainties as much as our convictions, we continue to have the conversations you want to have.  So, “Happy Christmas” to everyone who listens and we’ll see you in 2026.  UK Government Data (Use and Access) Bill 2025:  Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament House of Lords debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life Bill): https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2cbcf49e-9d0e-491d-a7e3-177077d403a0 Shabana Mahmood Speech and Question from the House of Commons on Asylum (minute 18:12 for the section referred to in Fearless Diversity) https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/78fe5a1e-493e-41a0-aa45-72036ba8434c?in=18:12:55 Kemi Badenoch Budget Response: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/bd93fcba-e4f0-4175-b6ef-701621a2d6c2   ‘I dared to question gender theory at Cambridge. Students carved Terf into my door’ https://archive.ph/mLJV3 Michelle Shipworth UCL professor in academic freedom row speaks out on China https://tinyurl.com/v6tj95as Ofcom statement in response to High Court Judgment: GB News v Ofcom https://tinyurl.com/3hsccp8a Data Use & Access Act - Commentary by Pinsent Mason law firm https://tinyurl.com/mryynhpn GB News’ Martin Daubney salutes Trump’s cavalcade https://tinyurl.com/hvn6rtwk Saimo Chahal – Bindmans solicitor in a number of assisted dying cases –  Info on the case of Omid https://tinyurl.com/2tucfs9e Transcript of Evidence from Jane Nicklinson and Saimo Chahal, on Behalf of Tony Nicklinson to the Commission on Assisted Dying – Canada - dated December 14,2010 https://tinyurl.com/3ntjcepr For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator   For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. 12/11/2025

    12 Days of Fearless Diversity Xmas

    In this week’s episode, Rachel and Simon pull on their Christmas jumpers and look back at a year of fearless diversity. But instead of a partridge, turtle doves, French hens, calling birds, gold rings and geese, their first “Six Days of Christmas” are: 📌 The Employment Rights Bill 📌 The surge in ADHD, autism and wider mental health diagnoses 📌 What really happened to the so-called “diversity backlash” 📌 The national shame of violence against women – and what it means for workplaces 📌 Significant employment tribunals and the defence of lawful belief 📌 The aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Threaded through all six are a hard, practical set of questions: Is there a widening gap between ambitious language (on rights, inclusion, safety, mental health) and the real machinery of guidance, training and governance needed to deliver?Does our capacity, competence and confidence in people management lag what these pressures demand?Are law and policy being asked to settle deep social disagreements, leaving institutions exposed, anxious and unsure how to act without legal or reputational blowback?Are people simply tired of performative gestures and hungry for visible fairness, safety, and competence instead? Amid culture-war noise and contested change, is there finally an appetite for more grown-up, practical responses in workplaces and in public life? Join Simon and Rachel for this week’s Christmas special, and feel free to comment, share, disagree and enjoy. RESOURCES: Sir Charlie Mayfield interviewed by Anna Foster on Radio 4’s Today Program (05/12/2025) https://tinyurl.com/3k6e2dht Charlie Mayfield Review Keep Britain Working Review: Discovery - GOV.UK Sarah Everard’s mother’s statement on her daughter’s murder https://tinyurl.com/5amt8kux Lady Elish Angiolini (former solicitor general for Scotland) on the release of The Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 First Report: Prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public https://tinyurl.com/3u9yp656 Higgs v Farmor’s School – Appeal Court judgement https://tinyurl.com/29sd8ayy Miller v University of Bristol The original judgement https://tinyurl.com/49exnbjv This is being appealed – the hearing was on 12-14th November 2025. Judgement not yet handed down People Management “UK companies abandon EDI initiatives in response to Trump’s anti-diversity rhetoric, survey finds” – Nov 3rd 2025  https://tinyurl.com/3psxsmvu Minister, Baroness Smith - Clarity on Supreme Court Judgement, November 2025 https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-11-05/debates/33DF0162-75ED-447D-9384-EE32A6422193/details#contribution-1457B511-21E8-40D1-9391-FEE39EF8751E   The Prime Minister “the Supreme Court Judgement must be implemented in full and at all levels”, November 2025 https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-11-12/debates/92F8A914-4D55-4672-A617-A8D393E3504F/details#contribution-38146318-67B4-4A4B-8836-5DE3503797FA Supreme Court judgement in April For Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v The Scottish Ministers (Respondent) For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator   For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. 12/04/2025

    Taking Down the Wall

    Tearing Down the Wall: A Fearless Diversity Look at Fairness   Three kids, a wall, and those famous different-sized “equity” boxes. Helpful metaphor or the reason that to so many leaders and colleagues think the boxes look like unfairness?   In this episode of Fearless Diversity, Rachel and Simon start with that much-used cartoon and end up somewhere much more interesting: how do we remove the barriers to people’s talent and empower them to achieve to the extent of their potential?     Are those “equity” boxes giving people the perception of an unfair advantage? To create greater opportunity shouldn’t we be taking the wall down altogether? And what does that look like if you’re a CEO, HRD, regulator or team leader trying to recruit, promote and manage fairly without getting lost in culture-war noise?   Rachel brings her psychological-safety and trauma-informed leadership lens; Simon brings his unique approach to diversity rooted in goals and outcomes rather than gestures and politics. Together they unpack quotas, merit, the “tyranny of low expectations”, neurodiversity, and why pointing and punishing rarely changes anything. We ask how we can (to quote the great black American profess Glen Loury “acknowledge racial disparities without invoking the language of white supremacy. And … pursue equality without promoting guilt or resentment”?  If you’ve ever wondered: When does equity become unlawful?How do we support people who meet the skills threshold to succeed?How do we challenge racism and sexism without turning everything into oppressor vs oppressed?  …this one’s for you. Smart, practical, occasionally spicy and definitely more useful than another slogan on a slide. How woke and anti-woke erase blackness We must see race, but not be ruled by it By Glenn Loury https://shorturl.at/78pWr For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator   For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. 11/27/2025

    Jacqui Gavin

    In this special Fearless Diversity episode, we press pause on the culture war and lean into a quieter kind of courage: listening. Rachel and Simon are joined by Jacqui Gavin BEM, a trans woman, former civil servant and long-time equality campaigner, for a deeply human conversation about growing up as Scott in 1970s Scotland, beginning transition as a teenager, and what it means to describe being trans not as an identity but as a process. Across the hour, they explore: The nine-year-old who “wanted to find the girl” and the 21-year-old stepping out with fear and liberation to live as a female.Why Jacqui calls herself “female with a trans history” and how she still lovingly carries Scott with her.What both sides of the sex and gender debate get wrong about each other, and why Jacqui sees herself not as a fighter but as a bridge-builder.Letting children be children, respecting women’s boundaries, and learning to “earn your place in the world” through mutual respect, not demands.This is not a shouting match about policy. It’s three people, in a conversation, talking honestly about fear, dignity, belonging and how to stay human when the world is loud, angry, and certain. If you’ve ever felt confused, anxious, or silenced by the noise around sex and gender, this gentle, thoughtful episode is an invitation: you’re allowed to just ask. For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator   For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About

Leaders are faced with dilemmas every day that flow from human interactions at work. And they are so often disruptive, time-consuming, potentially create division among your staff and test you as a leader. You need time to reflect…..you need space in the morning to listen to Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe eating these problems for breakfast. Fearless Diversity is the candid podcast that tackles the real dilemmas bosses, managers, and leaders face every day – around accountability, decision-making, workplace dynamics, conflict, and organisational culture and their people. Join Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe — two of the foremost thought leaders in workplace diversity, leadership, and inclusion — as they dive into honest conversations that get to the heart of it. We have the conversations you want to have. Rachel brings real-world, high-level implementation experience - expertise that CEOs and managers can trust, learn from, and enlist when they need results and to ensure their teams perform at their best. Simon adds his clout as a highly respected broadcaster, author, and inclusion specialist. They don’t always agree — and that’s the point. Rachel and Simon argue, disagree, and explore different perspectives, and always with resolution and insight – modelling the difficult conversations leaders need to have. It’s a podcast for thoughtful leaders who want to reflect, rather than shout or be shouted at. Fearless Diversity is the place to think differently about today’s trickiest human issues at work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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