Six questions with... Laura Boyle
Laura Boyle, Founder of Square Circle
‘I worked for 10 years in the City hiring and managing teams and now use this experience to connect young people with rewarding work. I believe everyone has skills to share but current workplace hiring and management practices are not designed to draw these out. Organisations know that diversity of thought is essential for them to meet the challenges of the future of work, but they often don’t nurture the different types of talent they’ve realised they need to hire. I believe building awareness about the set of biases we all personally hold is the answer to a more effective, and happier, workplace.’
What’s your favourite way to greet people?
My favorite way to greet people is with a really good one to one catch up. I find big groups fun but sometimes frustrating with friends I haven't seen in ages if we can't get into the good deep chat!
What conversation makes you happy?
My favourite conversation where both people feel like they can be vulnerable and say exactly what's going on for them without having to feel like status or cultural norms are getting in the way. How can we keep challenging our own implicit biases, the ones that are holding ourselves back even, to have better relationships?
What conversation topic makes you nervous?
The conversation topic that still makes me nervous is race. I am working to unlearn my own implicit biases (by following + reading the black female leaders who have already done the work for us, we just need to listen to them), which includes those learnt in a structurally racist society. Even though I'm doing this work however, I am still so cautious to start getting it right. Maybe that caution gets in the way of me leading real change? There are many (legitimate) questions about the way I have chosen to talk to employers about bias. Is it right for the people who've experienced bias to engage in the emotional labour of educating employers, or are we right that creating spaces for open conversation will create change? Have we chosen the right balance by bringing business leaders with us on our journey to including everyone, calling them in rather than out? Are my co-founder Kath and I the right people to do this work? How do we spend our privilege in the right way?
What makes you laugh
What makes me laugh is this thread, I saw him first @Lauralexx
If you could ask someone, dead or alive, anything - who and what would you ask them?
Right this second? I'd just ask my husband if he's ok.
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?
The hardest thing I've ever done is leaving the financial security I had created for myself (I hold a lot of privilege, I'm white, physically able, haven't been excluded due to my sexuality, feel happy identifying as a girl, but I didn't come from a family with any money which means I'm always anxious about where my money is coming from and where my home will be) to set up an impact business. Until you have actually tried to run start up business whose mission is to create positive social impact in the world, you don't realise how hard that is to pull off. The ecosystem around impact business is way more nascent than the headlines suggest.
Twitter: @SquareCircleSQ