Leaders Interview: Diversity in Isobar & Supporting A Culture Of Many
Diversity is an important element of building the right culture for our business, and a good culture is critical for long term success. Diversity is important not only for reasons of social inclusion, but also because it drives greater creativity and innovation for us and our clients. Today, having a diverse workforce is key to success. It’s a business imperative.
At the Isobar Global Summit in Shanghai last week, Caroline Dean, Global Director of Marketing & Communications spoke with Shamsuddin Jasani, Managing Director of Isobar India and Cécile Bitoun, Managing Director of Isobar France, about the opportunity, the responsibility and was to increase gender diversity specifically within the industry.
In the panel session, Shamsuddin and Cécile shared their office’s own commitment to gender equality. Read the full transcript of the interview below.
Caroline Dean (host):
The Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum has shown consistent improvement towards equality, can you tell us more about your role in Isobar, and the gender equality debate in your country?
Shamsuddin Jasani:
I’m the Managing Director of Isobar India — along with our group companies WATConsult Linked by Isobar and Fractal Ink Linked by Isobar we have 600 people across 4 offices — and we are growing fast. At the moment, over 45% of our team is women, but we want to do more.
In general, India is committed to making change happen. For example, in 2010, India launched the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW). Its mandate includes facilitating the co-ordination of all programmes connected to womens’ welfare and their socio-economic development across all Ministries and Departments. The Indian Government has made 6 month paid maternity leave mandatory for all, but there are still huge challenges in the country because it is a patriarchal society and girl child infanticide is still a major concern.
However, there is a huge push in India called “Beti bachao beti padhao,” this means save your daughter, give her an education. I like to think that what we have started is a very small step in that direction in Isobar India.
Cécile Bitoun:
I’m the Managing Director of Isobar France, we have 170 people in Paris. In general, our country is also making gender equality a priority, but we still need to address gender inequality in the workplace, tackling stereotypes in the media, an improved protection from domestic violence, a reform on parental leave, and measures ensuring parity in politics.
Caroline Dean (host):
It’s fascinating to hear the distinct challenges happening within each market. Only through elevating these experiences to a wider audience can we hope to tackle gender inequality world over.
I know both of you have examples of diversity projects in your market. Cécile, I know the French team are working on external initiatives to make progress, can you tell us about them?
Cécile Bitoun:
With the foundation of “Legion D’honneur” we are about to mentor top of the class female students from poor backgrounds so they can go as far as possible in their studies. We give coding courses to young children, both boys and girls, as until now coding is male dominated job.
Caroline Dean (host):
We also need to lead by example. Shamsuddin, your team established a Women’s Council. Can you tell us more about that?
Shamsuddin Jasani:
The idea, as many things that I do, was inspired by my wife. Being a man, it is difficult to understand what a women goes through. Hence the idea of a women’s council. The Women’s Council has an 11 point agenda, and includes assessing and acting on the infrastructure and process changes needed to support female employees in flexible working hours, maternity leave, and harassment issues. To ensure the council reaches all parts of the business we have appointed a Women’s Council ‘go to’ person in each of our offices.
Caroline Dean (host):
That’s some commitment, did you encounter any problems establishing the council? How did your teams react to the news and do you feel that it has been a success?
Shamsuddin Jasani:
Of course we had some issues. But I believe that in the end we will only grow as an agency if we evolve our thinking and our practices. Isobar right now has 45% women but we need strong women leaders of tomorrow and that’s the final aim of the Women’s Council beyond the things I mentioned earlier.
Caroline Dean (host):
Cécile, you mentioned that you have “talent scouts” — a group of people devoted to improving employees’ lives… How does this help empower women in your office?
Cécile Bitoun:
We have developed initiatives to help women balance between work and home life, such as home office and emergency child care, as-well-as support and mentoring for high potential women. We also host a discovery day where employees’ children learn about the different jobs in our business, to inspire the next generation.
Caroline Dean (host):
Over the past 4 years our Digital Maturity Index (DMI) has found a positive correlation between high performing offices and the offices that are structured in a way that best respects gender diversity. Our company mission is to transform businesses, brands and peoples’ lives with the creative use of digital, and this flows through to workplace policies, the working environment, and inclusivity initiatives.
Shamsuddin, in your opinion, what should we — and the wider industry — be doing more of at Isobar to ensure people feel safe to voice their personal opinions and goals?
Shamsuddin Jasani:
Diversity is a very complex thing, especially in a country like India. It’s not just about gender diversity. India is a very large nation with people from very different backgrounds, religions and so on. The way we run our office is to clearly show that we do not favour people based on caste, creed, religion, gender or orientation but on performance. At the end it’s about the leaders taking a clear stance on these issues. The right leadership and clarity of vision is key.
Caroline Dean (host):
This year, Dentsu Aegis Network asked everyone to make a personal commitment for International Women’s Day.
Mine is to “Share the stories that drive change from our 5,500 people to ensure everyone’s voice gets heard”.
Cécile Bitoun:
Mine is to “Spread the belief that strong is the new pretty.”
Shamsuddin Jasani:
Mine is to “Have many more women leaders in Isobar senior management.”
