Access: The straight-talking private equity veteran who’s looking to level the playing field
“The job of a leader is making sure that everyone has the best chance to do their job really well. It's not about ego or having all the answers.” - Wol Kolade
Hello reader,
Welcome to our 6th edition of Access - given the events of last Thursday, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the most clicked link from last week’s newsletter was this round up of the best Liz Truss memes.🥬
Thank you for all the feedback, do keep it coming. We’re building a list of folk you’d like to see featured in Access, a mix of those we know, and those we’d like to know.
One of the questions we get asked a lot, is - “who’s hiring?”. At the moment, the answer seems to be ever-changing. We’ve seen a lot of hiring briefs get pulled at short notice, and others opened with equally little warning.
As many of you are saying it’s getting tougher for jobseekers, Melissa & I wondered what we could do that would be helpful. After speaking with the team, we decided to try and compile a list of private capital job opportunities for finance and tech professionals. We’ll aim to publish early next week - if you’re not job hunting, please feel free to ignore, or even better, pass along to a friend.
We’ll be back on Thursday as usual -
Until next time,
Liz & Melissa
In case you missed it…
Last week’s newsletter included interviews with Reshma Saujani, Justin H Min, and Harry Halpin.
Our In-Depth section featured Anjula Acharia, the accidental investor with an eye for talent.
FEATURING:
This week’s best interviews
Haruki Murakami, master of suspense, mystery and sociology
David Shrigley OBE, on God and painting like a 5-year old
Alexandra Kalev and Frank Dobbin are taking a data-driven view of workplace diversity.
In-depth: Private equity veteran Wol Kolade is a straight-talker who’s looking to level the playing field.
IN BRIEF
“I’ve hardly ever experienced inspiration. I merely write down what comes into my mind at the moment.”
Japanese author, Haruki Murakami talks about everyday life, time travel, baseball and his latest novel, ‘Novelist as a vacation’.
[Living itself is adventure enough]
***
“A lot of my work has this insane anxiety about it.”
Meet British visual artist, David Shrigley OBE, who delights in satirizing everyday human interactions with hilarious results.
***
“[We] tend to think, erroneously, that our behavior is driven entirely by our values and our ways of thinking about the world… But often it goes the other way.”
Co-authors Alexandra Kalev, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Tel Aviv University, and Harvard sociology professor Frank Dobbin, on the open secret of what works - and what doesn’t - for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[Dive in to the Behavioral Scientist]
Looking for your next move?
If you're thinking about your next role and would like to talk through your options, please feel free to reach out; we're happy to chat so we know what to keep an eye out for.
IN-DEPTH
“I am utterly fascinated by the world of business and PE gives me the privilege of being able to interact with some of the UK’s best and brightest business people.”
Wol Kolade doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations. Over the course of a 30-year career in private equity (and similar length tenure at Livingbridge), he’s been at the centre of several high-profile industry debates.
It’s easy to imagine that some were less welcome than others. A grilling in front of the Treasury Select Committee in 2007, only a matter of months after being appointed as Chair of the BVCA, must rank among the more uncomfortable. And of course, in 2014 Livingbridge made headlines when it rebranded from Isis Equity Partners, to further distance itself from the terrorist group ISIS.
About Livingbridge
Livingbridge is a mid-market private equity firm with teams across the UK, the US and Australia. Across a 25-year track record, the firm has made more than 150 investments across four sectors; services, consumer, technology, and healthcare & education. Review their full portfolio here.
Kolade has also played a key role in highlighting what he describes as the “shockingly low representation of BAME leaders in private equity, business and healthcare”. He’s articulate yet direct when it comes to describing both the issues and the steps he believes we can all take to achieve sustainable improvements.
In a statement that Kolade released after George Floyd’s murder, he said:
“If you do not identify as a person of colour, you also have a role to play in turning the tide. Do not ignore this conversation, especially when it gets uncomfortable. Start by understanding, take the time to educate yourself. Recognise micro-aggressions exist and can be as painful for those on the receiving end as overt racism. There should be zero tolerance on your part. Stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with the person being targeted and call out the aggressor.”
For his part, Kolade sits on the advisory board at Level 20 and co-founded the insanely successful 10,000 Black Interns Initiative, which recently announced the programme would be extended to support disabled students and graduates across the UK.
“One or two companies that joined the original ‘100 Black Interns’ programme had never employed a black person. Crazy, right? Normalising the fact that black people are in serious jobs is critical. When that happens, we can shut the programme down.”
Nigerian-born Kolade completed an engineering degree - “far harder than finance”, he says - at King’s College, London, followed by an MBA at Exeter University Business School. His first role was at Barclays where he started as a management trainee, before joining Livingbridge’s predecessor Baronsmead on secondment.
“In 1993, the industry was still very much the Wild West. Very few people knew what private equity was, so we spent a lot of time prospecting for deals.”
Kolade has a particular interest in healthcare and education and has held Board roles at a number of schools and universities, as well as chairing the Guy’s & St Thomas’ charitable foundation. In 2021 he was awarded a CBE for services to Financial Services, and became the 25th person to be inducted into the Real Deals ‘Private Equity Hall of Fame’.
“Any politician who asks me, I'll give them a warts-and-all view about a whole range of things. My job is not to be a cheerleader, but be a critical friend.”
On school
“What I did get from school was the opportunity to think about the future. I remember sitting in an economics class when I was 14, where I heard about Venture Capital. From that moment on, I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
On prejudice
“I lived with two flatmates in south west London who were both white and graduated from KCL, part of the University of London. For every application they did, I did about ten. For every interview they got, it took me about ten times as many applications to get an interview.”
On diversity in private equity
“When I joined back in 1993 there were two black people, including myself, in the entire UK industry. Today, there are still very few black people in private equity in senior positions. During the last couple of years, it’s got a lot better, but we've still got a long way to go.”
On 10,000 Black Interns
“I don’t like to be up there in the ether: I want to get stuff done and the 10,000 Black Intern thing is a concrete response to the problem, which is if we don’t get the talent into the pipeline, we will have no talent.”
“People understand the richness and power of diversity and inclusion and that it’s a positive thing rather than something you ‘have to do’. It’s a positive benefit; diverse thinking creates better solutions.”
On positive discrimination
“You never want to employ people simply based on positive discrimination because that just sets you, and them, up for failure. What’s needed is a focus on creating diverse teams and an understanding that to achieve that, you have to address some of the systemic issues. You have to explain to people in a position of advantage that you are not disadvantaging them, you are simply levelling the playing field to get the best people on board. It’s so important to have a proper conversation about this if you are to avoid tensions.”
On the business case for diversity
“The big question is how to retain diverse talent. If the industry has more senior women, that will really help because, based on our experience, it can help foster a supportive environment and culture. We’ve also found that having a more diverse team can help us win deals. Overall, firms need to create an environment where people can bring their whole selves to work because that is what leads to better decision-making.”
“Success to me is when you don't need a separate programme and when we can be really confident that when any of us applies [for an opportunity] we have equal chances.”
On backing small businesses
“Why does someone come up with a Sony Walkman? And then, 30 years later, someone comes up with an iPod? That process of creation I’ve always found fascinating, and it always happens more at the small end than the large end.”
On the legacy of 10,000 black interns
“I hope that other people copy this initiative. The financial industry is a conservative sector, so other underrepresented areas, like architects for example, could look at this and follow suit. By normalising the involvement of people of colour, it could be a template for what leadership could look like.”
ESG Clarity and sister publication DiversityQ partnered with the reboot. campaign to spotlight the journeys of successful ethnic minority professionals who have risen to senior positions in the corporate world. Watch the interview between Shani Zindel and Wol Kolade below.
Sources
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