Fearless Diversity
Fearless Diversity
Podcast Description
Leaders are faced with dilemmas every day that flow from human interactions at work. And they are so often disruptive, time-consuming, potentially create division among your staff and test you as a leader. You need time to reflect…..you need space in the morning to listen to Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe eating these problems for breakfast. Fearless Diversity is the candid podcast that tackles the real dilemmas bosses, managers, and leaders face every day – around accountability, decision-making, workplace dynamics, conflict, and organisational culture and their people. Join Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe — two of the foremost thought leaders in workplace diversity, leadership, and inclusion — as they dive into honest conversations that get to the heart of it. We have the conversations you want to have. Rachel brings real-world, high-level implementation experience - expertise that CEOs and managers can trust, learn from, and enlist when they need results and to ensure their teams perform at their best. Simon adds his clout as a highly respected broadcaster, author, and inclusion specialist. They don’t always agree — and that’s the point. Rachel and Simon argue, disagree, and explore different perspectives, and always with resolution and insight – modelling the difficult conversations leaders need to have. It’s a podcast for thoughtful leaders who want to reflect, rather than shout or be shouted at. Fearless Diversity is the place to think differently about today’s trickiest human issues at work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on workplace diversity, leadership dilemmas, and organizational culture. Episodes cover topics like accountability in leadership, conflict resolution strategies, and the impact of current events on workplace dynamics, with specific discussions such as managing EDI agendas in light of Donald Trump's influence on the business landscape.

Leaders are faced with dilemmas every day that flow from human interactions at work. And they are so often disruptive, time-consuming, potentially create division among your staff and test you as a leader. You need time to reflect…..you need space in the morning to listen to Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe eating these problems for breakfast. Fearless Diversity is the candid podcast that tackles the real dilemmas bosses, managers, and leaders face every day – around accountability, decision-making, workplace dynamics, conflict, and organisational culture and their people. Join Rachel Cashman and Simon Fanshawe — two of the foremost thought leaders in workplace diversity, leadership, and inclusion — as they dive into honest conversations that get to the heart of it. We have the conversations you want to have.
Rachel brings real-world, high-level implementation experience – expertise that CEOs and managers can trust, learn from, and enlist when they need results and to ensure their teams perform at their best. Simon adds his clout as a highly respected broadcaster, author, and inclusion specialist. They don’t always agree — and that’s the point. Rachel and Simon argue, disagree, and explore different perspectives, and always with resolution and insight – modelling the difficult conversations leaders need to have. It’s a podcast for thoughtful leaders who want to reflect, rather than shout or be shouted at. Fearless Diversity is the place to think differently about today’s trickiest human issues at work.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this special Fearless Diversity episode, we press pause on the culture war and lean into a quieter kind of courage: listening.
Rachel and Simon are joined by Jacqui Gavin BEM, a trans woman, former civil servant and long-time equality campaigner, for a deeply human conversation about growing up as Scott in 1970s Scotland, beginning transition as a teenager, and what it means to describe being trans not as an identity but as a process.
Across the hour, they explore:
- The nine-year-old who “wanted to find the girl” and the 21-year-old stepping out with fear and liberation to live as a female.
- Why Jacqui calls herself “female with a trans history” and how she still lovingly carries Scott with her.
- What both sides of the sex and gender debate get wrong about each other, and why Jacqui sees herself not as a fighter but as a bridge-builder.
- Letting children be children, respecting women’s boundaries, and learning to “earn your place in the world” through mutual respect, not demands.
This is not a shouting match about policy. It’s three people, in a conversation, talking honestly about fear, dignity, belonging and how to stay human when the world is loud, angry, and certain.
If you’ve ever felt confused, anxious, or silenced by the noise around sex and gender, this gentle, thoughtful episode is an invitation: you’re allowed to just ask.
For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? – Fearless Facilitator
For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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