Occupier_News_Q1-2018_BR

SPOTLIGHT ON DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

normal daily life. And this doesn’t even touch those who suffer exclusion based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and political views. The opportunity of all of us coming together is only one of infinite possibility. Ultimately, a sense of belonging creates a healthier and more successful employee experience. Research shows diversity is needed for teams to be their most productive, whether it be in age, religion, ethnicity, ability or disability, sexual orientation, heritage, socioeconomic, geographic, or life experiences. The more people I meet through our activities around inclusion, the more I am inspired to do more. It resonates with everyone that I talk to from our people, to clients, suppliers and the broader community. For example, as part of our Access & Inclusion sponsorship of Vivid Sydney last year we met Digby Webster and RUCKUS, which is a Sydney based disability led contemporary performance ensemble. RUCKUS performed at our signature client event to mark the centenary of Cushman & Wakefield and we have subsequently commissioned Digby Webster to develop an artwork for our Diversity & Inclusion branding and held an exhibition of his works that were purchase by clients and our own staff. It has opened up such a wonderful collaboration between our business and Digby, who I am sure will be world-famous very soon.

James with members of RUCKUS

training, health, and employment needs. This role is very rewarding for me as I can, through my commercial network, help make a difference. This is a real passion of mine as I have been an active member and supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs all my life. As part of ensuring my children have a strong sense of inclusion, our family is very proud to be part of the Scots College Indigenous mentoring program, probably the best run program in Australia with more than 24 Indigenous boys now at the school. We mentor Galveston Gannembarr who is from a remote Indigenous community, Gapaweak, in the Northern Territory. His family very rarely travels to Sydney so Galveston is at our house most weekends and is very much part of our family. Libby and I go to all his parent-teacher interviews, weekend sport, school achievements, and we have also visited his family in the Northern Territory, which was a real “eye opener” for my youngest son Oscar.

I am also a mentor to a number of elite sportsmen and women. Many sporting stars face challenges building a long-term pathway once their sporting career has finished. I help them open doors in the business community in Australia, so they can build the second exciting phase of their career. Why do you believe so passionately about diversity & inclusion? What is the cost to society of excluding people? Most of us taken inclusion for granted. But sadly there are many different community groups that experience exclusion and social isolation based on parameters out of their control. Take for instance the elderly, the less mobile, those with hearing impairment, visual impairment, mental health conditions, intellectual disability, the economically disadvantaged, those on the autism spectrum and children with disability. All of these groups are excluded from what most of us would consider

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