Fearless Diversity: Identity, Civility, and the Courage to Disagree

At a time when public debate feels less like dialogue and more like a contest over whose feelings matter most, Simon and Rachel take a breath, and a stand, for nuance, empathy, and civility.

Because identity whether shaped by sex, gender, class, ethnicity, or belief has become both the lens through which we see the world and, too often, the wall that divides us.

In this episode, they explore what happens when politics becomes a battle of tribes rather than a search for solutions. From the far-reaching debates at the recent FiLiA conference, Europe’s largest feminist gathering, to boardrooms wrestling with diversity data, the same question runs through it all: how do we honour difference without hardening into division?

Rachel argues that class still defines how women experience both oppression and opportunity, and Simon challenges the orthodoxy of identity politics itself. Together, they unpack how leaders can use diversity data not as a flag to wave but as a lens for understanding asking, what are we really trying to learn here?

Because perhaps, in an age of permanent outrage, the most radical act isn’t shouting louder it’s listening better.

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Resources:

FILIA. https://www.filia.org.uk/

Fire Service Black Members - National Conference 2025 https://shorturl.at/A92tV

Black Excellence in Governance https://shorturl.at/lHFn3

For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design

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