Keynote SpeakersLeila McKenzie-Delis is moving the dial on diversity, inclusion, and business aspirations.
Leila is a passionate thought leader who founded DIAL Global in 2019, a global community for ‘Diverse Inclusive Aspirational Leaders’.
DIAL Global aims to foster a more open, diverse, and inclusive society by helping organisations think differently about their working culture, recruitment, attitudes, and understanding of diversity in all its forms.
Leila presents a podcast series, ‘Diverse Inclusive Leaders’ featuring exclusive talks with today’s most inspirational and accomplished thought leaders.
She also created the McKenzie-Delis Foundation – a charity dedicated to furthering the research into diversity, inclusion and belonging. In 2020, they launched the McKenzie-Delis Review; a ground-breaking report on diversity and inclusion in the UK workplace.
Leila McKenzie-Delis Bio:
Her upbringing and career have inspired Leila’s passion and commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Originally born in Hong Kong, a British couple adopted Leila as a baby and grew up in Harrogate, Yorkshire. As one of the relatively few non-white people in her school and the local area, Leila began to think about the nature of identity, race and professional ambition.
Although Leila went on to excel academically, graduating at the top of her class with a first-class honours degree, she quickly encountered difficulties accessing graduate jobs and internships, while her friends and peers did not experience the same barriers.
Committed to creating opportunities for herself, Leila went on to run several businesses and built a successful career in Executive Search.
One day, at a round table event, Leila noticed that she was the only female and only person of colour. From that moment onwards, the idea for DIAL Global was born to create more opportunities for diverse candidates to access top-level careers and leadership roles.
Today, Leila manages numerous directorships and advisory positions while continuing to promote and campaign for the benefits of inclusion and diversity in business and wider society.
Her mission is to build DIAL Global and The McKenzie-Delis Foundation to forge a more diverse and inclusive society.
Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
In her book DIVERSITY, INCLUSION & BELONGING, Leila explores how D&I today is about more than race, gender, age, or sexuality. It extends to how people think via cognitive and neurodiversity and, crucially, how we make people feel.
Statistical research has long proven that diverse teams equate to better business. Diversity, inclusion, purpose, and belonging are paramount to bolstering employee engagement, profit, performance, and growth while enhancing innovation, brand equity, and productivity and enabling talent attraction and retention.
The CEO Activist: Putting the ‘S’ in ESG
In her newest book, Leila offers an inspirational and exciting guide to making your workplace and world more inclusive, diverse, accepting, and productive.
You’ll explore the ten factors that impact visible and invisible diversity, including race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, mental health, parenthood, nationality, religion, and socio-economic status.
Leila explains the compelling business case for having a diverse workforce. She conclusively proves that organisations achieving high inclusion and diversity levels are more creative, innovative, and profitable.
You’ll also discover:
- Why teams with the broadest levels of diversity tend to create the most widely relevant products and solutions for the buying public.
- Strategies you need to follow to fortify your sense of self, step into your power, and confidently claim your space.
- Ways to make our environments more accepting, inclusive, and diverse so people from various backgrounds can thrive.
Book Leila McKenzie-Delis to attend your virtual meeting or in-person event to present a Diversity and Inclusion speech.
