Moses Adetiba

A Managing Director in Technology, Moses tells us why inclusivity is key to achieving diverse senior leadership and how individuality leads to collective success.

Seven years ago Moses Adetiba joined MSCI and is now a Managing Director | Deputy CISO – Head of IT Risk & BLN Co Founder. With the chance to collaborate with colleagues from around the world, along with opportunities to work across global locations, Moses considers MSCI as an internationally diverse organization. But diversity and inclusion are two different things; diversity being the representation of marginalized groups, and inclusion being the feeling of being seen, heard and embraced within a space. Moses thinks that overall, the industry can do more for inclusion.

“As an organization and an industry, we’re stepping up – but there is room for improvement. If businesses become more inclusive in the ways they help their employees progress, they will create cultural change and better ways of working.”

Moses aspires to see more inclusion within the financial industry for young talent; especially with regards to how they are hired and mentored up the career ladder. Without creating greater inclusive employee experiences, the financial industry will face a significant underutilisation of talent. It’s the leadership at the top of an organization who are the main influence on its culture, values and ethics – if they are not providing these opportunities internally, what message could that send out to employees, customers and wider society?

“The value of any company and how attractive they are relies on the opportunities they give their people to climb up the ladder. This means retaining talent and allowing them to progress without the element of unconscious bias. Organizations need to demonstrate internal progression; you come in at a certain level and work towards the top.”

To ensure that diverse talent can progress into senior roles, Moses believes that businesses need to go back to the very beginning of the recruitment process and hire from diverse networks. Whether that be working with LGBTQ+ organisations or going into communities facing socio-economic disadvantage, organizations will be elevated from empowering difference.

“People with different views, coming from different angles and perspectives help us relate more to people outside of our business for example; clients, external partners, even competitors. We don’t want to be a robotic corporate industry.”

Moses is a strong advocate for change, who celebrates difference and believes that for firms to succeed, they must celebrate it too.

“You can disagree with one another, have challenging conversations and you will still achieve something! It might not be the traditional, conventional way to do things – but difference is good. Change is good.”

But how can businesses empower diversity? How can they drive their internal talent to the top? For Moses, it’s simple.

“Open up to the world. Redesign your recruitment processes so they favour inclusivity. You could tap into Black networks, remove names from CVs to help eliminate any bias and demonstrate that you are a truly inclusive place to work.”