Dive In: why driving diversity is essential for re/insurance

It was a single phone call from Lloyd’s then chief executive Inga Beale that turned out to be the start of something special.

Beale was concerned about the lack of diversity in Lloyd’s and wanted to run a series of awareness events with the help of Jason Groves (pictured).

Groves agreed to help, and eight events later, the Dive In festival now takes place across 35 countries, attracting more than 30,000 people.

Speaking to Intelligent Insurer about this year’s festival, Marsh’s global director of media relations reveals his excitement about what it will bring.

“There’s a lot of things we’re talking about for the first time, which is very exciting,” says Groves, who is the festival chair.

“The subject of neurodiversity had almost never been talked about within the insurance industry until we raised it at Dive In last year.

“One of our most popular sessions, attended by well over 1,000 people, was talking about neurodiversity.

“There are so many ways that you think ‘gosh, I’d never thought about looking at like that’. People who are neurodiverse, or on the autism spectrum, bring something unique and special and valuable to our industry.

“How do you nurture that? How do you bring it in? It’s about that sharing of best practice.

“That’s the opportunity, for us to be better as an industry.”

The right talent pool

Dive In 2022 takes place between September 27 and 29. There will be a series of events held across the world where professionals can discuss diversity-related issues and people can access the content online.

Groves says diversity is more relevant than ever. “Only the right talent pool can tackle the global issues of today. If you look at the world around us, and some of the issues we are involved in—for example the insurance industry was essential in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, something that had not occurred in living memory.

“There is the war in Ukraine, where the insurance industry has had to step up on issues such as grain supply.

In the global economy, there are so many new and different and challenging things coming up.

“We need the broadest possible talent pool to come up with ideas that meet these challenges, to meet what our clients are talking to us about,” he says.

“Take the rise in cyber risk over the last few years. Look at the kind of knowledge and talent we’ve had to bring in to our firms to be able to understand the risk, advise clients properly and build insurance products that meet their needs.

“There are challenges everywhere. The concern is that as an industry, historically, we’ve not been great at drawing talent from wherever it exists.

“The whole point of diversity and inclusion is to make our organisations more innovative, have broader thinking and ultimately, be more successful and meet our clients’ needs,” he explains.

Diversity of topics

Groves says one of the major benefits of the festival is that people can “share experiences and best practice”.

Topics discussed will themselves be diverse, such as online bullying, domestic violence, the glass ceiling and improving recruitment from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We’re addressing a lot of new things. As well as religion, mental health, and sexuality, there’s always new stories that come out.

“For example, in the Middle East, we have a session on ‘break the bias, not the business’ which is addressing the low level of women in senior executive positions in the region,” he says.

Groves is proud of the way the Dive In festival can cut through company hierarchies to provide practical support.

“One of the things I’ve been proud of is that we have talked about lots of different aspects of mental health, giving practical tips to managers about how to raise these issues with people on their teams. This is one of the good things about Dive In—it is not top-down,” he says.

As to what he likes most about the festival, Groves says: “My favourite thing is hearing feedback about how it has changed people.

“Last year I mentioned neurodiversity. When we had our first session, I heard several people say: ‘I have never talked about being autistic before’.

“I use this term consciously. They came out as autistic because it was seen as a topic which people could talk about.”

Joining in

These powerful issues are broadcast to a global audience online. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic limited social interaction, the festival took place in a virtual format.

This proved a big success as the event showed how it could reach a global audience in a virtual format. It provided a valuable lesson for future festivals.

Groves explains: “We decided that we wanted to keep most of the events online because we were seeing that people were very interested in what was going on in other countries and seeing those different perspectives.

"A lot of us who work in insurance deal with people from all over the world. Our clients, particularly in the London Market, are from almost every country around the world. To understand different perspectives on certain topics is important.”

For those wishing to take part, Groves says: “We make it very simple. Go to diveinfestival.com. Registrations open on August 9. Once you register, it’s very straightforward. You can see the events all over the world.
“So stay up late, as I will do for the first event in New Zealand on the Monday night if you’re in London.

Don’t look at events just in your own country—look at events all round the world and see what takes your interest.

“I’d encourage you to register on the Dive In website, take a look and see what takes your fancy.”

For more information and to register for Dive In 2022 visit diveinfestival.com/