Diverse Leaders Network
Pound House, 62A Highgate
High St London N6 5HX
Pound House, 62A Highgate
High St London N6 5HX
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Leadership is the future and an essential skill required for the 21st century workforce. We work with schools and corporate organisations to teach and deliver leadership and employability programmes that unlock the full academic, career and leadership potential of every student, regardless of their background.
Stereotypes about gender, ethnicity and class begin to form in children as young as 7. If negative and unchallenged, these stereotypes have the power to lock young people into a cycle of disadvantage. Our programmes develop a leadership mindset and skillset designed to transform limiting perceptions and beliefs.
We cannot underestimate the transformative power of children and young people seeing people who look like them in jobs, positions and sectors that they would like to do in the future. Our programmes are taught and delivered by relatable role models who are diverse in age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status and skill.
Our programmes are designed to develop
"We are very pleased with Diverse Leaders Network. It's been a great opportunity for our students to learn leadership skills and apply them in their lives. Leadership Education should be part of the curriculum. It is as important as Science, Maths, and English."
"Fantastic premise, brilliantly organised and exceptional impact. Could not be more impressed with the impact this has had on my students."
"A fantastic programme that was well organised. Very beautifully managed. The students were well trained and proved everybody can be a leader if given the skills."
"This is something I think every student needs. These leadership programmes are CORE to everything. They are the foundation of what we do and who the students become. It helps individuals to make course directions and proactive decisions, which change their lives for the better whilst they are in a stage of life which is most effective to do so."
In recent years, we have seen a significant change in the way live, educate and do business. With the advancement of technology, low-skilled jobs are becoming obsolete. Due to pre-existing structural inequalities, this affects mainly the working-age population from ethnically diverse and low socio-economic backgrounds, as they are the biggest groups to occupy these roles.
As the top professions tend to have the highest earnings, job security and better longer-term income prospects, it is essential that young people have the skills needed to remain competitive in the job market and have the skills required to access these jobs.
Leadership taught by diverse professional leaders will not only raise aspirations, attainment and confidence but will also reduce barriers to education and employment, giving young people a chance to access these managerial and professional jobs in the future.
Stereotypes about gender, ethnicity and class begin to form in children as young as 7. These beliefs go on to shape the way they view their education, future and place in society. If these stereotypes are negative and go unchallenged, these stereotypes have the power to lock them into a cycle of disadvantage.
Research shows the development of a leadership mindset and skillset in young people of school age can transform limiting perceptions and empower students to lead and take charge of their academic achievement, personal progress and future career goals.
Just 7% of the UK population attend private school, yet 71% of senior judges, 50% of members of the House of Lords and 43% of newspaper columnists went to an independent school. Whilst ethnically diverse people make up 12% of the working-age population, only 4% of current FTSE 100 Directors, 4% of MPs in England and 2% of Headteachers, are from an ethnically diverse background. Similarly, women are also underrepresented in senior positions of leadership with just 9% of FTSE 100 Executive Directors being female.
In the UK today, there is an entrenched link between a young person’s background and their ability to reach their full academic, career and leadership potential. Individuals from ethnically diverse and low socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to be unemployed, in low-skilled work or remain in entry-level positions. Women are more likely to go into stereotypical professions, get paid less than their male counterparts and choose flexible working hours, which wrongly affect their chances of progressing into leadership.
This level of disadvantage leaves women and individuals from ethnically diverse and low socio-economic backgrounds locked into a perpetual cycle of underrepresentation. In recent years, interventions to tackle this issue starts far too late, as stereotypes about gender, ethnicity and class begin to form in children as young as 7. Our commitment to turning every student into a leader will ensure all young people get an opportunity to lead and use their knowledge, skills and networks to change the leadership landscape in the future.
Servant leadership is defined as a leadership approach that focuses on the needs of others. Servant leaders value other people’s perspectives, support others to achieve their goals, appropriately involve others in the decision-making process and build a strong sense of community.
As student leadership becomes more prevalent in schools, we believe that servant leadership needs to be explicitly taught in order to increase effectiveness and engagement.
Therefore, we promote training before title and work with student leadership teams to increase their confidence, motivation, responsibility and impact.
Values-based leadership is defined as a leadership approach that instills a shared set of values in all stakeholders in order to increase cohesiveness and willingness to work together.
Research into some of the world’s most effective leaders have one thing in common: a set of core values that regardless of the situation, do not change.
Therefore, we help students to identify and develop a core set of personal values and show them the power of shared values.
Value-based leadership has been proven to improve teacher and peer relationships and has helped to make existing school values, mottos and ethos more meaningful to the students.
Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes positive change in individuals and social systems.
To address some of society’s biggest social and educational issues, we believe that it starts with the individual.
Therefore, we teach students the importance of self-leadership and principles proven to increase intrinsic motivation, behaviour for learning and relationships with others and the curriculum.
By doing this, we believe students will leave school with better educational outcomes and resourced with the skills to excel in the world of work.