Syl Saller, Chief Marketing Officer at Diageo, has underlined the importance of driving diverse creative leadership to create the best work.

Speaking at the Advertising Association’s LEAD 2020 conference in London Saller said, “We think who makes the work matters.”

Sharing the responsibility of brands not to just drive diversity in their own organisations, but amongst their partners, Saller noted that in talking to Diageo’s agencies there was a clear ‘pinch point’ when it comes to creative leadership teams: “Only 16% of creative leaders are women.”

In a bid to tackle this issue, Saller pointed to the “hugely successful” Creative Comeback scheme which has seen Diageo partner with Creative Equals to invest in bringing diverse female talent back into the creative industries.

The success of the programme, which is now being rolled out globally, is testament to the power of a collective effort in driving meaningful change to diversify the industry.

Responsible leadership

Discussing the dawn of a new era of responsible leadership, Saller shared the importance of ensuring that a company’s purpose is not just a slogan that sits on the wall.

She pointed to the ways in which Diageo puts its values into action, adding that its parental leave policies, for all genders, are a year in most of its companies.

Saller discussed the importance of ensuring people have meaning in their work, noting that as the company has 28,000 staff across the world, as well as all its partners, responsible leadership comes down to “each individual to do the right thing.”

Mind the talent gap

The wide-ranging panel discussion on the future of responsible leadership also highlighted the need to ensure that leadership is diverse and representative in the first place. Therefore the need to attract and retain diverse talent, in order to better represent society as well as drive business growth, was also part of the discussion.

Alex Mahon, Chief Executive of Channel 4, cut through the noise which so often surrounds the perceived challenges surrounding inclusive hiring: “Generally the answer is never the talent isn’t there; it's that we are not working hard enough to get it.”

Mahon noted that the question for the creative industries now is, “how do you move from representation to authentic portrayal?”

Sharing how Channel 4 has seen huge benefits from spearheading more inclusive representation, from its ground-breaking coverage of the Paralympics to its Diversity In Advertising award, Mahon noted that the broadcaster has seen a commercial boost. She explained, “When you represent society as it sees itself, you are more commercially successful.”

Photography © Bronac McNeill