Irina Men & Pierre-Adrien Grange attending the “Making Diversity Work in Business and Government: What to Do and How to Do It” conference organised by Amcham and The Network, two business networking groups in Luxembourg, 20 September 2017Juan Pablo Olaya, Karthik Palaniappan & Mary McIvor attending the “Making Diversity Work in Business and Government: What to Do and How to Do It” conference organised by Amcham and The Network, two business networking groups in Luxembourg, 20 September 2017Miriam Mora & Daniel RodriguezLaurent Peusch & Anke HofstraLuciele Milani & Sandra Le GrandJoana Wong & Kim SchrantzMarina Koffa, Susanne Arend & Parul AbbottJill Saville & Sara SpeedMartine Neyen & Mohamad AlaajebMichael Quellmelz & Mary McIvorEmilie Anne Trossen & François Joseph NeuDelaney Lopulua, Pierre Laloyaux, Fabienne Mecrean & Katya TopalovaOctavia Domp-Sandu, Catia Fernandes & Joana RibeiroSara Speed & Carolina De Leon Brooks Diane Ries & Virginia AndersonAttendees during the “Making Diversity Work in Business and Government: What to Do and How to Do It” conference organised by Amcham and The Network, two business networking groups in Luxembourg, 20 September 2017Paul Schonenberg, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg, speaks during a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network in Luxembourg City-Centre on 20 September 2017Attendees during the “Making Diversity Work in Business and Government: What to Do and How to Do It” conference organised by Amcham and The Network, two business networking groups in Luxembourg, 20 September 2017Malek Lahmadi of Amcham listens to speakers during a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network on 20 September 2017Attendees listen to speakers during a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network in Luxembourg City-Centre on 20 September 2017Corinne Cahen, the DP family and integration minister, is seen shortly before speaking at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network in Luxembourg City-Centre on 20 September 2017Corinne Cahen, the DP family and integration minister, speaks at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network in Luxembourg City-Centre on 20 September 2017Attendees react to the address by Corinne Cahen, the DP family and integration minister, at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network, at the headquarters of Banque de Luxembourg, 20 September 2017Lisa Francis-Jennings of The Network speaks at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network in Luxembourg City-Centre on 20 September 2017Kary Bheemaiah, a consultant at Uchange, speaks at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network, at the headquarters of Banque de Luxembourg, 20 September 2017Kary Bheemaiah, author of “The Blockchain Alternative”, speaks at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network, in Luxembourg City-Centre, 20 September 2017Panellists during the “Making Diversity Work in Business and Government: What to Do and How to Do It” conference organised by Amcham and The Network at the headquarters of Banque de Luxembourg, 20 September 2017. Pictured on stage, from left: Karen Wauters of The Network, John Parkhouse of PwC Luxembourg, Catia Fernandes of IMS Luxembourg, the author and consultant Kary Bheemaiah, and Citi Luxembourg’s Alberta Brusi.Attendees of a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network on 20 September 2017John Parkhouse of PwC Luxembourg speaks at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network on 20 September 2017Alberta Brusi of Citi Luxembourg speaks a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network on 20 September 2017. She is seen with Kary Bheemaiah, author of “The Blockchain Alternative”.Catia Fernandes of IMS Luxembourg speaks at a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network on 20 September 2017. Vinciane Istace of the consulting firm PwC in Luxembourg asks panelists a question during a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network on 20 September 2017Attendees network during a workplace diversity conference organised by Amcham and The Network in Luxembourg City-Centre on 20 September 2017
Photo: LaLa La Photo
Corinne Cahen opened the event on Wednesday evening by pointing out that there is no other country like Luxembourg:
“With 47.7% of residents holding foreign nationality, there are few countries who exercise diversity like we do.”
Cahen, the DP minister of family affairs, integration and the greater region, added that “businesses who live diversity, whether it be in sex, age or religion, are far more successful.”
The keynote speaker of the evening, Kary Bheemaiah, a consultant atUchange and author of “The Blockchain Alternative” commanded the stage used data, humorous analogies and mathematical equations to explain diversity and the value of it. He drew upon personal stories--his time spent in the army when diversity saved his life--and referenced Netflix to give a present day example of the value of diversity. Bheemaiah’s speech covered the ways in which “cognitive diversity and cultural diversity play a key role in challenging a team to make everyone perform to the best of their abilities.”
Following Bheemaiah’s speech, he joined fellow panel members for a discussion which was moderated by Karen Wauters from The Network, a women’s business networking club. Two of the panel members, Alberta Brusi, country officer at Citibank, and John Parkhouse, who is CEO of PWC Luxembourg, engaged in dialogue about diversity in a larger scale workforce. Brusi raised the issue of “unconscious bias” and how this hinders progress, whilst Parkhouse gave practical examples of the responsibilities of advertising roles in a way which appeals to all genders and backgrounds.
They also addressed the challenges of diversity and Catia Fernandes, the coordinator of the Diversity Charter run by IMS Luxembourg, was able to lend a hand by explaining the ways such issues could be addressed.
The rest of the evening continued with a Q&A and a networking reception giving the audience an opportunity to discuss the topics that were raised earlier on in the evening. Following the official programme, Laurent Peusch from Adem, the national jobs agency, told Delano that as the deputy head of employer services the talk gave him a lot of food for thought:
“It was particularly inspiring to hear from Mr Bheemaiah, who is from Bangalore but works in France and has a great perspective of what diversity actually means.”
“The panel gave a great insight into diversity from the point of view of the leaders. In my workplace, we’re already very diverse, something which I am grateful for. We’re all invited onto panel discussions no matter what level we are. I’m proud to say that we’re a diverse faculty and staff.”
Most people were blown away by the keynote speaker’s take on diversity, Pierre-Adrien Grange felt that the message was clear:
“with a speaker who comes from a pure data science, business leaders and a minister, the panel embodied diversity. Most fascinating, however, was the connection Mr Bheemaiah made between what goes on in our brains to what goes into our everyday behaviour.”
