Our #PathToPartner is back ✨ today, we have Suresh Kanwar of Financial Services Apps sharing his personal story and how he’s grown alongside his career #POCintech#bame#PeopleOfDeloitte
Suresh talks about growing up in Lemington Spa, after his grandfather moved to England years ago. He chats about being different to others - having a different skin colour, having a different upbringing and dealing with different perspectives!
He went to Oxford and met his wife. He still wasn’t sure what he wanted to do but knew it would be something tech! He started working at Andersen! 👨🏾💻
Suresh was interested in #InvestmentBanking and started working at Credit Suisse. He talks about being surrounded by so many intelligent people that it helped drive him forward. It taught him a lot about the sort of leader he wanted to become #POCInTech
He talks about learning how to deal with workplace politics- figuring out how to get ahead whilst remaining true to himself. He sometimes struggled to connect on levels that others could, because he had different cultural values and was brought up different than those around him.
He spent a lot of time in 1999 going to the cricket 🏏😂 but still managed to get promoted! No easy feat 💪🏽 #priorities
During his career, Suresh decided to give up alcohol. He talks about how that made it difficult in an environment which so readily networks over wine/beers. He talks about how he managed that whilst getting promoted - ensuring he kept his networks but stayed true to himself 👨🏾💻
Suresh says getting to Partner is very dependent on sponsorship of others and helping new leaders grow up through the firm in a way which works for them. He actively supports and empowers people now to grow into leaders 💪🏽✅
Suresh has his top tips are:
✅ Allow constant growth,
✅ Get sponsorship, and
✅ Understanding your differences to make connections - sometimes to make sales 💴 , sometimes to get sponsorship 🤝 but also sometimes, just because ✨. Very inspirational! @DeloitteUK@DeloitteUK_MCN
Suresh says his biggest obstacle in his career (so far!) was that people observed that he didn’t talk as much as others. And he had to work to reduce the internal hurdle he had before speaking to allow his voice to be heard 💭 that took him a lot of time to get over.
Suresh says “people buy from people” - he wants people to be true to themselves, be respectful and be sincere. That’s how he makes connections, leads his teams and builds up future teams 👨🏾💻✨ #PathToPartner#POCInTech
Suresh tried to look for any connection for sponsorship and create meaningful connections 🤝 he has looked for what gives him that connection. He encourages us to look for sponsorship - and have the people who you can truly rely on for advice & advocacy.
It's here! @peakonteam's first #DiversityAndInclusion report is out now 💜! We're excited to share our brand new DE&I webpage, alongside our first DE&I report with our current employee data breakdowns and our 15-month strategy. peakon.com/life-at-peakon…
I joined Peakon just under 2 months ago & it has been a privilege to lead their DE&I work, creating their 1st strategy and report. Here are some of the highlights for us, as a company of 230 people ✅
46% overall and 40% in SMT identify as women at Peakon.
Please note, we are expanding these values to be more inclusive in future reports for non-binary & genderqueer/genderfluid folks.
I've came across lots of folks who have been emotionally abused by their workplace - where they no longer feel like they can separate personal selves from their work. On many occasions, organisational leadership may take advantage of this... here's how to spot this happening /1
Being asked to work much longer hours regularly (not just to meet a deadline or get something over the line). When you speak up about this, you're told thar you just don't get the mission or you're just not "passionate" enough. Passion will be used as a "criteria" to gatekeep.
/2
When you ask for a £ increase, you're told that this shouldn't be about the money, that it's about the mission & doing X for Y. You're told that this isn't about financial gain but about the opps the job provides you & if you think about £, then you're not the right fit
/3
1 reason orgs hire experienced folks is because they have a gap to fill. The knowledge doesn’t exist internally & they need it to continue to succeed/progress. Bringing people from different backgrounds & exps is good. It stops an echo chamber forming. What isn’t good is... /1
bringing those people in & expect them to fit your way only. What you get when you hire someone externally is different ideas/environments. If they come from a different org, there'll be time for them to settle into way that works for both of you, however this works both ways /2
You cannot hire in experienced leaders & expect them to not bring that experience & knowledge of what also does/doesn't work. Yes, they must also be willing to learn but so should the org. If you hire people in & force them into your mould, they'll leave & you're back at sq 1. /3
Your org needs to step up for Black folks right now. Here’s some pointers in thread 🧵- silence isn’t an option. /1
Post about this in company channels - not just Black/race-focused groups. This is relevant for everyone. Talk about systemic racism, sharing links to Black-driven research, making it clear this is a structural issue we all must address /2
2) Create a safe space for folks to share/vent/etc. Violence on Black folks isn’t an anomaly - people are emotionally scared & physically exhausted. Remember that & create a space where if folks want to share/be vulnerable, they can.
.@WCalsen opens up with her story of joining the firm @DeloitteUK and the shifts she has saw in her 17+ years here. She continues to thrive here and grow within the firm! #womenintech
Wendy talks about her first ambition - being the first female president of South Africa, where she was raised! 🇿🇦✨
Wendy discovered her love of snowboarding 🏂 and started coding to feed the hobby 👩🏼💻. Getting into tech through becoming a coder and pivoting into tech architecture - building things and forming them from scratch!