Last week our Executive Lead of proPRIDE shared his perspective on Pride Month and the importance of an inclusive workforce. As he mentioned, we will be spotlighting various members of the proPRIDE group throughout the summer and their unique perspectives. Kicking us off is UK Managing Director, Peter Richardson!
- What is your background and path to Protiviti? I am a Manchester lad from a working class family. My grandfather was a lathe operator and my dad was a bookkeeper in a small local business. I studied Modern Languages at University and my first job was in ‘Overseas Marketing’ for a reinsurance company. After 5 years there and at the tender age of 27, I moved into consulting. I ran teams that operated in insurance in the Financial Services sector at PwC, EDS, and Atos. I came to Protiviti with a small team from Atos because we were all certain that our industry expertise combined with regulatory and risk management capability is essential in Financial Service. We were all also attracted by Protiviti’s inclusive, collaborative and diverse culture. Being change management professionals, we all understood what important components of the dynamics for a successful team they are.
- What inspired you to support diversity and LGBTQIA+ initiatives? Common sense! As the United Kingdom country market leader, I always ask our people to take along a colleague that is different from you to a meeting. What I mean is, bring someone who has a different technical background, another role or level in the company, a different angle on the question or way of engaging; someone who will hear and see things differently and get another perspective on the situation; someone with whom the client may develop a different type of rapport. That is the power of diversity and we have a huge opportunity to play to those strengths in Protiviti. It just makes sense! And by the way, from a personal perspective, I feel exactly the same way! Being a linguist, and traveler, I have always been in touch with multiple cultures, languages and styles and I feel that I have benefited hugely from this.
- What advice would you give to individuals at Protiviti who may not feel that same confidence in their professional lives? I would say first, our culture at Protiviti is truly inclusive, collaborative and diverse. “Door Open” means exactly that, so do feel free to walk through and chat. I would give the same advice that my baby sister gives me whenever I go to her with a problem (which by the way I still do!): Baby steps! Look around you and see the environment around you, choose the direction you want to go and take the first small step, and eventually the second one will follow.
- What is your favorite fast food restaurant? The one I frequent most is probably Pure, and when we were in Trafalgar Square, it was Crussh (do they count?) – Common factor connecting the two is proximity to the office!
