Mike is determined to change things for the better. He chooses to be more.

Having spent his entire career at Deutsche Bank, Mike has a pretty good insight into the business. As Chief of Staff for the Investment Bank, he has a varied role that includes helping to manage and deliver our People Strategy across the different businesses and geographies. Over the course of his 18 years with the firm, he’s developed a unique perspective on the value of diversity and inclusion, within our business specifically and more broadly in society. Now, he’s using that experience to help drive the Investment Bank’s diversity agenda.

Mike is quite clear – businesses must hire and retain a diverse workforce or risk falling behind. But outside of the commercial imperative, he also feels that an inclusive society benefits us all at a more human level. If people don’t feel a sense of belonging, can they ever realise their full potential?

Spending his early career as a HR practitioner, Mike has dug deep into diversity issues right from the get-go. But he knows from experience that there is no quick or obvious answer. He recognises that the financial sector has been slow to change and move on from an entrenched and outdated culture. And that’s made Mike all the more determined to accelerate progress within the bank.

Mike highlights a number of initiatives that are steadily changing the way we do business: from a clear focus on recruiting a gender balanced graduate class through to promoting meaningful exposure and career development for our most senior women.

“We want to break down barriers for women and give them networking opportunities and access to senior managers.”

As a father of three, Mike has first-hand experience with the challenges experienced by working parents. And he believes we need fathers to take advantage of flexible working and be upfront about the importance of their families. Mike highlights the bank’s progressive policies – like providing 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave, regardless of the parent’s gender or status as primary/secondary care-giver – as examples of the much-needed change in moving the industry forward. It’s another clear step that the business is making towards creating a more inclusive environment.

“We live in a society where flexible working has to be a baseline requirement. It should never come to a point where an employee has to choose between their family and their career.”