Fearless Diversity
Claim This Podcastby Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe
Podcast Authority
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Podcast Overview
<p>Leaders are faced with dilemmas every day that flow from human interactions at work. And they are so often disruptive, time-consuming, potentially create division among your staff and test you as a leader. You need time to reflect…..you need space in the morning to listen to <strong>Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe </strong>eating these problems for breakfast. <strong>Fearless Diversity </strong>is the candid podcast that tackles the real dilemmas bosses, managers, and leaders face every day – around accountability, decision-making, workplace dynamics, conflict, and organisational culture and their people. Join Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe — two of the foremost thought leaders in workplace diversity, leadership, and inclusion — as they dive into honest conversations that get to the heart of it. We have the conversations you want to have. </p><br><p><br></p><p>Rachel brings real-world, high-level implementation experience - expertise that CEOs and managers can trust, learn from, and enlist when they need results and to ensure their teams perform at their best. Simon adds his clout as a highly respected broadcaster, author, and inclusion specialist. They don’t always agree — and that’s the point. Rachel and Simon argue, disagree, and explore different perspectives, and always with resolution and insight – modelling the difficult conversations leaders need to have. It’s a podcast for thoughtful leaders who want to reflect, rather than shout or be shouted at. Fearless Diversity is the place to think differently about today’s trickiest human issues at work.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/30/2025
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Recent Episodes
December 11, 2025
12 Days of Fearless Diversity Xmas
<p>In this week’s episode, Rachel and Simon pull on their Christmas jumpers and look back at a year of fearless diversity. But instead of a partridge, turtle doves, French hens, calling birds, gold rings and geese, their first “Six Days of Christmas” are:</p><br><p>📌 The Employment Rights Bill</p><p>📌 The surge in ADHD, autism and wider mental health diagnoses</p><p>📌 What really happened to the so-called “diversity backlash”</p><p>📌 The national shame of violence against women – and what it means for workplaces</p><p>📌 Significant employment tribunals and the defence of lawful belief</p><p>📌 The aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland</p><br><p>Threaded through all six are a hard, practical set of questions:</p><ul><li>Is there a widening gap between ambitious language (on rights, inclusion, safety, mental health) and the real machinery of guidance, training and governance needed to deliver?</li><li>Does our capacity, competence and confidence in people management lag what these pressures demand?</li><li>Are law and policy being asked to settle deep social disagreements, leaving institutions exposed, anxious and unsure how to act without legal or reputational blowback?</li><li>Are people simply tired of performative gestures and hungry for visible fairness, safety, and competence instead?</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Amid culture-war noise and contested change, is there finally an appetite for more grown-up, practical responses in workplaces and in public life?</p><br><p>Join Simon and Rachel for this week’s Christmas special, and feel free to comment, share, disagree and enjoy.</p><br><p><strong>RESOURCES:</strong></p><p>Sir Charlie Mayfield interviewed by Anna Foster on Radio 4’s Today Program (05/12/2025)</p><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/3k6e2dht" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/3k6e2dht</a></p><p>Charlie Mayfield Review <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keep-britain-working-review-discovery/keep-britain-working-review-discovery" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Keep Britain Working Review: Discovery - GOV.UK</a></p><br><p>Sarah Everard’s mother’s statement on her daughter’s murder</p><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/5amt8kux" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/5amt8kux</a></p><br><p>Lady Elish Angiolini (former solicitor general for Scotland) on the release of <strong>The Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 First Report: Prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public</strong></p><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/3u9yp656" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/3u9yp656</a></p><br><p>Higgs v Farmor’s School – Appeal Court judgement</p><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/29sd8ayy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/29sd8ayy</a></p><br><p>Miller v University of Bristol</p><p>The original judgement</p><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/49exnbjv" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/49exnbjv</a></p><p>This is being appealed – the hearing was on 12-14th November 2025. Judgement not yet handed down</p><br><p>People Management</p><p>“UK companies abandon EDI initiatives in response to Trump’s anti-diversity rhetoric, survey finds” – Nov 3rd 2025 </p><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/3psxsmvu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/3psxsmvu</a></p><br><p>Minister, Baroness Smith - Clarity on Supreme Court Judgement, November 2025</p><p><a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-11-05/debates/33DF0162-75ED-447D-9384-EE32A6422193/details#contribution-1457B511-21E8-40D1-9391-FEE39EF8751E" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-11-05/debates/33DF0162-75ED-447D-9384-EE32A6422193/details#contribution-1457B511-21E8-40D1-9391-FEE39EF8751E</a></p><p> </p><p>The Prime Minister “the Supreme Court Judgement must be implemented in full and at all levels”, November 2025</p><p><a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-11-12/debates/92F8A914-4D55-4672-A617-A8D393E3504F/details#contribution-38146318-67B4-4A4B-8836-5DE3503797FA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-11-12/debates/92F8A914-4D55-4672-A617-A8D393E3504F/details#contribution-38146318-67B4-4A4B-8836-5DE3503797FA</a></p><br><p>Supreme Court judgement in April</p><p><a href="https://supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc_2024_0042_judgment_updated_16f5d72e76.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">For Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v The Scottish Ministers (Respondent)</a></p><p>For more about Rachel: <a href="https://fearlessfacilitator.co.uk/who-is-the-fearless-facilitator/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator</a></p><p> </p><p>For more about Simon: <a href="https://diversitybydesign.co.uk/who-we-are/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Who We Are – Diversity by Design</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
December 4, 2025
Taking Down the Wall
<p><strong>Tearing Down the Wall: A Fearless Diversity Look at Fairness</strong></p><p> </p><p>Three kids, a wall, and those famous different-sized “equity” boxes. Helpful metaphor or the reason that to so many leaders and colleagues think the boxes look like unfairness?</p><p> </p><p>In this episode of Fearless Diversity, Rachel and Simon start with that much-used cartoon and end up somewhere much more interesting: how do we remove the barriers to people’s talent and empower them to achieve to the extent of their potential? </p><p> </p><p>Are those “equity” boxes giving people the perception of an unfair advantage? To create greater opportunity shouldn’t we be taking the wall down altogether? And what does that look like if you’re a CEO, HRD, regulator or team leader trying to recruit, promote and manage fairly without getting lost in culture-war noise?</p><p> </p><p>Rachel brings her psychological-safety and trauma-informed leadership lens; Simon brings his unique approach to diversity rooted in goals and outcomes rather than gestures and politics. Together they unpack quotas, merit, the “tyranny of low expectations”, neurodiversity, and why pointing and punishing rarely changes anything.</p><br><p>We ask how we can (to quote the great black American profess Glen Loury “acknowledge racial disparities without invoking the language of white supremacy. And … pursue equality without promoting guilt or resentment”?</p><br><p> If you’ve ever wondered:</p><ul><li>When does equity become unlawful?</li><li>How do we support people who meet the skills threshold to succeed?</li><li>How do we challenge racism and sexism without turning everything into oppressor vs oppressed?</li></ul><p> </p><p>…this one’s for you. Smart, practical, occasionally spicy and definitely more useful than another slogan on a slide.</p><br><p>How woke and anti-woke erase blackness We must see race, but not be ruled by it</p><p>By Glenn Loury</p><p><a href="https://shorturl.at/78pWr" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://shorturl.at/78pWr</a></p><p>For more about Rachel: <a href="https://fearlessfacilitator.co.uk/who-is-the-fearless-facilitator/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator</a></p><p> </p><p>For more about Simon: <a href="https://diversitybydesign.co.uk/who-we-are/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Who We Are – Diversity by Design</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
November 27, 2025
Jacqui Gavin
<p>In this special Fearless Diversity episode, we press pause on the culture war and lean into a quieter kind of courage: listening.</p><br><p>Rachel and Simon are joined by Jacqui Gavin BEM, a trans woman, former civil servant and long-time equality campaigner, for a deeply human conversation about growing up as Scott in 1970s Scotland, beginning transition as a teenager, and what it means to describe being trans not as an identity but as a process.</p><br><p>Across the hour, they explore:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>The nine-year-old who “wanted to find the girl” and the 21-year-old stepping out with fear and liberation to live as a female.</li><li>Why Jacqui calls herself “female with a trans history” and how she still lovingly carries Scott with her.</li><li>What both sides of the sex and gender debate get wrong about each other, and why Jacqui sees herself not as a fighter but as a bridge-builder.</li><li>Letting children be children, respecting women’s boundaries, and learning to “earn your place in the world” through mutual respect, not demands.</li></ul><p>This is not a shouting match about policy. It’s three people, in a conversation, talking honestly about fear, dignity, belonging and how to stay human when the world is loud, angry, and certain.</p><br><p>If you’ve ever felt confused, anxious, or silenced by the noise around sex and gender, this gentle, thoughtful episode is an invitation: you’re allowed to just ask.</p><br><p>For more about Rachel: <a href="https://fearlessfacilitator.co.uk/who-is-the-fearless-facilitator/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator</a></p><p> </p><p>For more about Simon: <a href="https://diversitybydesign.co.uk/who-we-are/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Who We Are – Diversity by Design</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
27 total episodes available with 27 transcripts
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Fearless Diversity?
<p>Leaders are faced with dilemmas every day that flow from human interactions at work. And they are so often disruptive, time-consuming, potentially create division among your staff and test you as a leader. You need time to reflect…..you need space in the morning to listen to <strong>Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe </strong>eating these problems for breakfast. <strong>Fearless Diversity </strong>is the candid podcast that tackles the real dilemmas bosses, managers, and leaders face every day – around accountability, decision-making, workplace dynamics, conflict, and organisational culture and their people. Join Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe — two of the foremost thought leaders in workplace diversity, leadership, and inclusion — as they dive into honest conversations that get to the heart of it. We have the conversations you want to have. </p><br><p><br></p><p>Rachel brings real-world, high-level implementation experience - expertise that CEOs and managers can trust, learn from, and enlist when they need results and to ensure their teams perform at their best. Simon adds his clout as a highly respected broadcaster, author, and inclusion specialist. They don’t always agree — and that’s the point. Rachel and Simon argue, disagree, and explore different perspectives, and always with resolution and insight – modelling the difficult conversations leaders need to have. It’s a podcast for thoughtful leaders who want to reflect, rather than shout or be shouted at. Fearless Diversity is the place to think differently about today’s trickiest human issues at work.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
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