‘The lessons businesses can learn from Southgate and the England team’

Gary Neville when recently discussing Gareth Southgate’s leadership said “He’s everything a leader should be: respectful, humble, tells the truth, genuine. He’s fantastic, Gareth Southgate.”

One plaudit missing from this quote is that Gareth Southgate is also clearly an inclusive leader.

It is acknowledged that in many sectors of business we have a long way to go before we can say that those sectors reflect the diversity of 21st century Britain.

As the son of Jamaican immigrants to the UK who gave their children a better start in life than they had enjoyed, I have a passion for social mobility. This is why I am a social mobility ambassador for the Law Society of England and Wales alongside my day job as a commercial property partner in the Bristol office of national law firm Clarke Willmott.

It is also why in November 2019 I launched the Bristol Property Inclusion Charter to boost diversity and inclusion in the Bristol property sector, especially as figures I obtained from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on the composition of their membership in Bristol clearly indicated that this composition is currently not very reflective of the population of the city in the 21st century.

Lessons from Gareth Southgate and the England football team that businesses can learn from to boost their diversity and inclusivity are as follows:

•        Clear and unequivocal messaging on the importance of equality and not accepting intolerant behaviour – Gareth has said that the England squad has a duty to engage with the nation on “equality, inclusivity and racial injustice”.

•        Being one unit but allowing individual views and personalities to flourish – For example; backing the off-field good work by the likes of Marcus Rashford.

•        Developing a team of diverse leaders – Harry Kane is captain but it clear that the team has a range of senior leaders such as Raheem Sterling and Harry Maguire. This has allowed the England team to cope with pressure better than previous teams and to reach a major final for the first time in decades. Gareth has also assembled a diverse team of assistants and backroom staff.

•        Providing ladders of opportunity – despite being only 19 and with little senior level experience, Gareth was not afraid to start with Bukayo Saka because he saw his talent and clear mental strength.

•        Empathy and willingness to continue learning – Chris Powell, one of Gareth’s assistant coaches, commented to the BBC that Gareth is a thoughtful person and wants to learn about life experiences of others that he has not himself experienced.

•        Embracing the present and future – Gareth has emphasised pride in his heritage but also said “I am confident that young kids of today will grow up baffled by old attitudes and ways of thinking”.

This is not the first time that business has had the opportunity in this area to draw lessons from the sporting world, the last major sports hosting example being the success of team GB at the 2012 Olympic Games. In post-Brexit Britain, one ingredient that will be critical for a thriving UK economy will be making the most of all talents in the UK and being a socially mobile country.

Karl Brown is a commercial property partner in the Bristol office of national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP and founder of Bristol’s Inclusion in Property Charter

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