Global majority – a simple but powerful reframing

Guests attending our regular business breakfast events at the Fieldfisher offices in No1 Spinningfields routinely come away with something new.

Introduced by office managing partner David Bowcock, our fireside chat with service design and diversity consultant Vimla Appadoo, the conversation moved from her purpose-driven mission to advocate, innovate and sometimes disrupt the engagement, to the meaningful action that she delivers for clients as part of the diversity, equity and inclusion agenda.

As a member of the Greater Manchester Business Board, and for her clients through her business Honey Badger she attempts to make lasting change in making the world a better place for everyone, regardless of their ethnic background.

Employee engagement consultant Matt Wilden picked up on Vimla’s use of the term Global Majority, his primary take.

Global Majority is a new way of shifting the perceptive narrative of DE&I agendas supporting minority groups to that of supporting the Global Majority. 

“Like all labels, it has an interesting debate around cases for and against use (see some commentary article links in the comments). Vim used this descriptor in her discussion, and I’m now thankful to be in a more informed position on the important discussions needed in this area,” Matt said.

During the sessions and after, we discussed how to capture meaningful data and insight to authentically present an organisation’s true ‘current state’ or, ultimately, the ‘current state’ of a group of people based on their thinking and beliefs.

Also at the event was Otega Ajuchi, who shared his key takeaways from Vimla’s conversation on LinkedIn.

The software engineer with Accenture liked the changed reference from POC/BAME to “the global majority” he said, “because that’s what they are! A simple but powerful reframing.”

He liked Vimla’s small acts of defiance she uses to challenge the status quo—like wearing gold trainers in the House of Lords or speaking at events while pregnant.

She also emphasised how overwhelming global change can feel and encouraged looking closer to home for opportunities to make an impact.

I put it to Vimla that the culture wars being what they are, often lines are drawn where these issues are branded as the actions of “the woke brigade”. 

Vimla shared that while leaders might face backlash for being “woke” for a day, their actions could lead to lasting positive change. “Take the criticism on the chin and stay the course,” she encouraged.

When discussing opportunities for working-class people in Greater Manchester to access the city, she highlighted the barriers created by poor transport infrastructure. “Intentions are great, but logistical solutions are essential,” she said.

When asked if the leadership of the Conservative Party by Rishi Sunak and now Kemi Badenoch, was a positive thing, she caveated her positivity by saying “diversity only matters if you have diversity of thought.”