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| Kenneth Olisa: ‘To improve social mobility, we must raise children’s aspirations’ | Kenneth Olisa: ‘To improve social mobility, we must raise children’s aspirations’ |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| Improving social mobility may sometimes seem like an uphill task in a time of rising inequality but Sir Kenneth Olisa, chair of the judging panel for the second year running at the UK Social Mobility awards which take place next week, says this is all the more reason to focus on levelling the playing field. | Improving social mobility may sometimes seem like an uphill task in a time of rising inequality but Sir Kenneth Olisa, chair of the judging panel for the second year running at the UK Social Mobility awards which take place next week, says this is all the more reason to focus on levelling the playing field. |
| The 66-year-old, who was knighted in 2018 for services to business and philanthropy, has had a string of roles from running his own merchant bank to lord-lieutenant of Greater London. In 2016 he was named by Powerlist as the most influential black man in Britain. Olisa argues that creating better opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds like his should be a priority, including for business. People will tell you social mobility is a great idea, he says, “but just saying that and then not doing anything about it isn’t helpful. | The 66-year-old, who was knighted in 2018 for services to business and philanthropy, has had a string of roles from running his own merchant bank to lord-lieutenant of Greater London. In 2016 he was named by Powerlist as the most influential black man in Britain. Olisa argues that creating better opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds like his should be a priority, including for business. People will tell you social mobility is a great idea, he says, “but just saying that and then not doing anything about it isn’t helpful. |
| Social mobility requires far more than a good education | Lee Elliot Major and Stephen Machin | Social mobility requires far more than a good education | Lee Elliot Major and Stephen Machin |
| “The trouble I have found in business generally, [is that] I open my mouth about social mobility and people nod and say ‘oh it’s a very important thing, here’s what we’re doing in our corporate social responsibility programmes and then they carry on with whatever they were going to do before.” | “The trouble I have found in business generally, [is that] I open my mouth about social mobility and people nod and say ‘oh it’s a very important thing, here’s what we’re doing in our corporate social responsibility programmes and then they carry on with whatever they were going to do before.” |
| His own background – state-educated child of mixed race brought up by a single mother (his Nigerian father left while he was still young) in the 1950s, who went on to Cambridge – has informed his desire to promote inclusion and mobility. | His own background – state-educated child of mixed race brought up by a single mother (his Nigerian father left while he was still young) in the 1950s, who went on to Cambridge – has informed his desire to promote inclusion and mobility. |
| So, how does he respond to figures published last month showing that more than 14 million people live in poverty or research by the OECD showing that, far from improving, social mobility in the UK has stagnated? | So, how does he respond to figures published last month showing that more than 14 million people live in poverty or research by the OECD showing that, far from improving, social mobility in the UK has stagnated? |
| “I don’t consider that social mobility is a question of relative poverty and/or earnings power. Earning more money isn’t a measure of social mobility, it’s a measure of earnings. You don’t have to be a high earner to have improved your social standing, indeed many important roles in our society, such as magistrates, aren’t paid,” says Olisa. | “I don’t consider that social mobility is a question of relative poverty and/or earnings power. Earning more money isn’t a measure of social mobility, it’s a measure of earnings. You don’t have to be a high earner to have improved your social standing, indeed many important roles in our society, such as magistrates, aren’t paid,” says Olisa. |
| The Social Mobility awards, set up by Tunde Banjoko, founder of the Making the Leap charity in 2017, are intended to incentivise organisations to break new ground in opening up opportunity. The commercial logic for having mobility as a target is clear, Olisa argues: finding the best talent is ultimately good for competitive advantage and the bottom line. “If you’re going to have a national football team you go to find the best football players. You don’t say, well let’s have people whose parents play football or who knows somebody that I know.” Most sports “dig deep into the talent pool” (at least at participant level) while business “is way behind that”. | The Social Mobility awards, set up by Tunde Banjoko, founder of the Making the Leap charity in 2017, are intended to incentivise organisations to break new ground in opening up opportunity. The commercial logic for having mobility as a target is clear, Olisa argues: finding the best talent is ultimately good for competitive advantage and the bottom line. “If you’re going to have a national football team you go to find the best football players. You don’t say, well let’s have people whose parents play football or who knows somebody that I know.” Most sports “dig deep into the talent pool” (at least at participant level) while business “is way behind that”. |
| Business just hasn’t thought about diversity enough and therefore recruitment is a matter of habit. “It’s not that people are evil. They’ve just always done it [the same way]. We’re trying to break them out of that habit,” he says. Second is that those in charge of recruitment tend to be middle managers “loaded” with multiple responsibilities, so adding something else to their list can seem to be just more work. | Business just hasn’t thought about diversity enough and therefore recruitment is a matter of habit. “It’s not that people are evil. They’ve just always done it [the same way]. We’re trying to break them out of that habit,” he says. Second is that those in charge of recruitment tend to be middle managers “loaded” with multiple responsibilities, so adding something else to their list can seem to be just more work. |
| Asked if awards aren’t just tinkering around the edges of a big problem, he says that a major reason they are useful is the emphasis on organisations being able not only to demonstrate that they have strategies in place to widen the pool of talent they recruit from but also a plan for developing talent. Breaking down barriers by fostering ‘soft skills’ such as networking are also a way businesses can drive change he says. | Asked if awards aren’t just tinkering around the edges of a big problem, he says that a major reason they are useful is the emphasis on organisations being able not only to demonstrate that they have strategies in place to widen the pool of talent they recruit from but also a plan for developing talent. Breaking down barriers by fostering ‘soft skills’ such as networking are also a way businesses can drive change he says. |
| As the rich get richer, why don’t British people care about inequality? | Simon Tilford | As the rich get richer, why don’t British people care about inequality? | Simon Tilford |
| “Even now, if you went to a great public school and Oxford or Cambridge you’ve got a higher chance of getting into a top job than if you didn’t. And that isn’t a meaningful filter in the 21st century.” | “Even now, if you went to a great public school and Oxford or Cambridge you’ve got a higher chance of getting into a top job than if you didn’t. And that isn’t a meaningful filter in the 21st century.” |
| What about the government’s Social Mobility Commission? “I don’t quite understand what went wrong within the Social Mobility Commission but I very rarely heard anything from them,” he says. “They didn’t really say very much. They were all about data.” | What about the government’s Social Mobility Commission? “I don’t quite understand what went wrong within the Social Mobility Commission but I very rarely heard anything from them,” he says. “They didn’t really say very much. They were all about data.” |
| Still, he’s more optimistic about its new chair, Martina Milburn, the former chief executive of the Prince’s Trust. “She’s a force of nature. [She’s] someone whose day job is driving social mobility by the bucket load.” He has praise too for former education secretary Justine Greening’s efforts to put the spotlight on the issue with her Social Mobility Pledge. “What Justine Greening did from a high position was to challenge people’s thinking. So I am therefore a huge supporter.” | Still, he’s more optimistic about its new chair, Martina Milburn, the former chief executive of the Prince’s Trust. “She’s a force of nature. [She’s] someone whose day job is driving social mobility by the bucket load.” He has praise too for former education secretary Justine Greening’s efforts to put the spotlight on the issue with her Social Mobility Pledge. “What Justine Greening did from a high position was to challenge people’s thinking. So I am therefore a huge supporter.” |
| Asked whether he thinks the government is committed to fairness and social mobility, he replies: “Yes. But the answer doesn’t lie with legislators or regulators,” suggesting rather that, “it’s a matter of Darwinian principle that those who wish to survive and prosper will need to hire talented people from wherever they originate and not just people ‘who look like me’” . | Asked whether he thinks the government is committed to fairness and social mobility, he replies: “Yes. But the answer doesn’t lie with legislators or regulators,” suggesting rather that, “it’s a matter of Darwinian principle that those who wish to survive and prosper will need to hire talented people from wherever they originate and not just people ‘who look like me’” . |
| Olisa says that until his late 50s he would have said the colour of his skin was irrelevant. Only then did he realise the value of being a role model, not least for young people from minority ethnic backgrounds. | Olisa says that until his late 50s he would have said the colour of his skin was irrelevant. Only then did he realise the value of being a role model, not least for young people from minority ethnic backgrounds. |
| But he laments that there is still “so much wasted talent” waiting to be tapped. “I look into the eyes of somebody who had a crap childhood and [who] ends up therefore with their trajectory so low it makes me weep. We need to be looking at ways of raising children’s aspirations.” | But he laments that there is still “so much wasted talent” waiting to be tapped. “I look into the eyes of somebody who had a crap childhood and [who] ends up therefore with their trajectory so low it makes me weep. We need to be looking at ways of raising children’s aspirations.” |
| Curriculum vitae | Curriculum vitae |
| Age: 66. | Age: 66. |
| Lives: London and Briantspuddle, Dorset. | Lives: London and Briantspuddle, Dorset. |
| Family: Married, with two daughters | Family: Married, with two daughters |
| Education: High Pavement grammar school, Nottingham; Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MA natural, social and political and management sciences). | Education: High Pavement grammar school, Nottingham; Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MA natural, social and political and management sciences). |
| Career: 2006 – present: founding chairman, Restoration Partners; 1993 – 2006: founding chairman, Interregnum plc; 1981 – 1993: various senior marketing roles, Wang Labs UK; 1974-1980: engineer, then salesman, then product marketing manager, IBM Systems. | Career: 2006 – present: founding chairman, Restoration Partners; 1993 – 2006: founding chairman, Interregnum plc; 1981 – 1993: various senior marketing roles, Wang Labs UK; 1974-1980: engineer, then salesman, then product marketing manager, IBM Systems. |
| Public life: founding chair, Aleto Foundation; chair, Shaw Trust. | Public life: founding chair, Aleto Foundation; chair, Shaw Trust. |
| Interests: Photography, skiing, watching the River Piddle flow past the garden. | Interests: Photography, skiing, watching the River Piddle flow past the garden. |
| Social mobility | Social mobility |
| The Society interview | The Society interview |
| Inequality | Inequality |
| Poverty | Poverty |
| Social exclusion | Social exclusion |
| Race | Race |
| interviews | interviews |
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