Why the Benefits of Age Diversity Need to be Shouted from the Rooftops

Speech delivered on Champion Age Diversity Day

Age has been in the news.

In the UK, we just celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of our queen, now 96-years old, and still delivering value in the workplace. In her case, that happens to be the balcony on Buckingham Palace.

In the US we have the oldest man to be sworn in as President at age 78. At age 29, Joe Biden was one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate. He may be domestically unpopular - hugely unpopular – but I am not alone in being grateful that an experienced statesman is in charge during the biggest crisis to face the West since the Cold War.

And on a June weekend, we saw a critically injured 36-year-old beat a 23-year-old at Roland Garros to walk away with his 14th French Open win, and thus be called the GREATEST OF ALL TIME, the best tennis player of his generation: Rafael Nadal, with two grand slams more than his closest opponents.

Yet we live in a world that worships youth. That dismisses the middle aged and the old. A world where if you are over 50, its going to be a nightmare trying to find a new job. And chances are, if you are employed, with stagflation, recession, whatever is coming, your employer is more likely to dismiss you if you are over 50, than if you are younger.

AGE DISCRIMINATION EXISTS AND ITS THRIVING

If I say to you, youth and innovation, youth and entrepreneurship, you won’t bat an eyelid.

If I say to you, an older worker and innovation, older worker and entrepreneurship…well, it doesn’t exactly slip off the tongue, does it?

In fact, I have my own story of age discrimination. In a bid to cut back on the household bills, I thought I would go grey, give up those boring visits to the hairdresser – boring and expensive – every six weeks. I bought a grey wig, to see what I would look like. Let me show you, as I showed my family.

(At this point in the speech, Karina put on a grey wig)

I admit it is a cheap, nasty wig. But what was even more horrific was my 21-year old son’s reaction: “Mama, you are supposed to be at the forefront of social change in the City, of Diversity and Inclusion. If you let yourself go grey, you won’t have any credibility.”

Let me repeat that:’ you won’t have any credibility. ‘

The conclusion is that if you are older, you don’t look like an agent of change, you don’t look like an entrepreneur, you don’t look like an innovator.

WHAT IS THE REALITY?

Let me give you 3 doses of reality.

First. The average age of a successful start-up founder is 45, according to a 2020 research study by Economica. Note the word ‘successful’.

Let me quote: ‘Among those who have started a firm, older entrepreneurs have a substantially higher success rate. Our evidence points to entrepreneurial performance rising sharply with age before cresting in the late fifties. If you were faced with two entrepreneurs and knew nothing about them besides their age, you would do better, on average, betting on the older one.’

Second dose of reality. The future of work. There is a lot of talk about automation taking away jobs from human beings. And about the older generation not being digital natives. We are digital immigrants. All true.

However, according to a study by The Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics, brains and heart win in the future of work.

Jobs that require abstract thinking, people engagement and soft skills are less likely to be automated, according to research. The authors also find that combining ‘heart’ with ‘brains’ will future-proof your job further. ‘Heart’ relates to jobs that involve soft skills and are high people engagement.

Now – and what I am going to say ain’t no research study – if I look at my peer group, we don’t need to prove ourselves anymore. We’re comfortable with our faults, with our qualities. We’ve either made it or we haven’t. We don’t take things as personally. We enjoy laughing at our own absurdities.

In a multigenerational workspace, that lack of ego, that lack of the need for struggle, can be very helpful.

Third dose of reality.

We have a vast, skills shortage in the Western world. Labour markets are in flux from the pandemic fallout and technological upheaval. Up to a billion people will need reskilling and life-long training by 2030, according to the OECD. We need more carers; we need more marketing executives; we need more quantum scientists.

And in parallel, on the plus side, we have a healthier population of people over 50, over 60, over 70, some of whom want to work longer, some of whom must, due to financial necessity, and many of whom will reinvent themselves.

As a microcosm of my third ‘dose of reality’, let me give you an example I have become very familiar with. The world of quantum computing. I won’t bore you with the details of how a finance and politics journalist has reinvented herself as a quantum guru – quantum involves geniuses with double PhDs, molecular simulation and Star Trek scenarios. Way out of my comfort zone.

In this ecosphere, the CEO of Google’s quantum spin out SandboxAQ, recently said, “The number one concern we have going forward is the skills gap. When people ask me, “what keeps me up at night?” – that’s what keeps me up at night – the lack of a talent pipeline in quantum and also lack of diversity in that pipeline.”

SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY

What’s Jack Hidary’s solution? Work with universities to increase the pipeline. But also work with what he calls the “existing adult working population”. While at Google, they trained numerous staff in various quantum and other advanced math courses; they trained customers; they upskilled engineers and scientists that were already- ALREADY – in the workforce.

THAT’s the biggest opportunity. THAT’s the key to the skills shortage. Upskill, training, reinvention in any shape.

In Top Gun Maverick, the much-publicised blockbuster, ageing star Tom Cruise is dismissed by a younger protagonist with the words, “The future is coming, and you’re not in it”. Who can doubt that he, at 58 years old, saves the day?!

Not only are we, the older generation, the future. WE are the key. WE are the opportunity. WE are the solution.

This is the keynote speech delivered by Karina Robinson, Co-Director of The Inclusion Initiative, on Champion Age Diversity Day, as part of a panel on Valuing Age Diversity in the Workplace.

It was sponsored by The Age Diversity Forum and Hansuke Consultants.

Quantum Matters – Quantum Culture

Not just another brick in the wall  

“You think you are the messiahs!” cries out Lily, the super-hero of BBC series Devs, to the bosses in charge of the secretive quantum unit.

That slur can just as easily be applied to the Big Tech chiefs, who started out with missions encapsulated in Google’s motto “Do no evil,” yet proceeded to abuse their monopolistic powers, promote addictive behaviours and allow hate speech to flourish.

Can a different culture be created in the newly emerging quantum ecosphere?

This matters to the world. The Quantum Computing market is forecast to be worth $50bn by 2030, only nine years away. The pace of funds into the sector has already accelerated. Data platform The Quantum Insider (TQI) notes that total disclosed capital flows into the sector were $1.9bn in the first half of 2021, compared to $1bn in all of 2020.

And quantum computing’s capacity to change the world for good can best be harnessed through a diverse workforce working in an inclusive culture that supports stakeholder capitalism.

The key challenge – a decent culture – also matters to quantum companies themselves for three reasons: innovation, recruitment and funding.

Innovation

Similar to all nascent sectors, innovation is key to the development of profitable companies producing jobs and goods.

More inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their field, according to a Deloitte report. Gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform their peers, while ethnically diverse ones are 35% more likely, according to a McKinsey report.

Even without citing hosts of corroborating studies, common sense dictates that the wider the range of opinions, the more chances of new ideas arising. The most productive meetings for transformative ideas are often those where disagreements flourish. The flame of innovation is often created out of friction; group think is the result of bonhomie.

Given that human beings have around 188 cognitive biases, ranging from the self-explanatory Familiarity Bias to the Just World Hypothesis, recruiting in one’s own image is difficult to resist. It behoves quantum company CEOs and their colleagues to diversify the mix, adding to the mainly white and male university PhDs and tech executives in order to bolster innovation.

Recruitment

There is a global war for talent in many sectors. Goldman Sachs, an erstwhile golden destination, is seeing some problems in recruitment. And those it does recruit are now surprisingly vocal. Young bankers complained to senior management about their workload earlier this year, a story avidly picked up by the media.

The UK’s mission to attract the best global talent is not helped by its expensive, time-consuming new immigration regime. One well known quantum start-up was forced to set up two subsidiaries in Continental Europe due to Brexit. On the plus side, the company was pleasantly surprised by the response to a recruitment ad there. Unfortunately, this stood in sharp contrast to its UK job advertisement, which received far fewer responses.

Employees and future employees are empowered, and they are demanding workplace cultures that align with their values. Over 85% of Gen Z believe companies should stand for more than just making a profit. Note that at Apple there was a successful petition to dismiss a well-known new hire with a sexist reputation, as well as a public letter demanding flexible return-to-work policies.

And yet, basic prejudice persists. A female student working on her quantum PhD at an Oxbridge university was asked by her professor: “How do you expect to progress if you keep smiling all the time?!”

Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) is doing all the right things and reaping the fruits: over 40% of its job applicants are women. One of its latest ads used these phrases: “We aspire to thrive…thanks to your diversity of thoughts and background…We are building quantum computers to enable life changing discoveries.” The company, led by Ilana Wisby, anonymises all the CVs it receives, posts roles on diversity-focused job boards (LBGT+, black engineers and others) and celebrates its new arrivals with photos on social media that highlight its diverse workforce.

Although helpful, a female CEO is not essential to enable a wider recruitment strategy. Cambridge-based Riverlane, for instance, headed by Steve Brierley, lists its first two values as being “supportive” and “collaborative” and posts a friendly group image of its relatively diverse company.

Denise Ruffner and Andre König of Women in Quantum (WIQ) and OneQuantum are the two major protagonists of the move to shake up the look of the industry and widen access. Their fast-growing mentoring schemes, online recruitment fairs and the setting up of free-to-use country chapters – from Zimbabwe to Nepal to Argentina – are inspiring a new generation.

TQD has been highlighting the issue, while The City Quantum Summit in November will host a special panel on the subject.

To create an inclusive culture, the Good Finance Framework is a good place to start. Designed by The Inclusion Initiative’s Director, Associate Professor Grace Lordan at the London School of Economics*, its 10 steps will also help boost staff loyalty and enthusiasm. This is crucial when quantum companies are competing for the best talent against other industries, as well as between themselves.

What is relevant for talent, is just as relevant for funding.

Funding

Political guru Frank Lunz predicts that how you treat your employees will be the single most important issue for companies over the coming years – above sustainability and shareholder returns.

It is an issue institutional investors are grappling with as part of their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria.  Regulation will drive it. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this year approved a proposal from Nasdaq, the stock market for tech, requiring its listed companies to publish, comply or explain on board diversity. They must have “two diverse directors, one identifying as female and another as an underrepresented minority or LBGTQ+.”

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposals out for consultation on how it can accelerate the pace of meaningful change on Diversity & Inclusion, noting that it is relevant for risk management, good conduct, healthy working cultures and innovation (my italics).

The writing is on the wall: whether public or private, investors are going to be leading a push for the right cultures. Getting ahead of the game is the best bet for any quantum company.

Build back better is a much over-used phrase. But it encapsulates the desire to avoid the mistakes of the past. In the case of the quantum ecosphere, steering clear of Big Tech’s grave errors to create a better world, both within quantum companies and through quantum computing, is key.

*To note, the author is Co-Director of LSE’s The Inclusion Initiative for the City.

The City Quantum Summit at the Mansion House on November 10th is hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of London and Redcliffe Advisory, and supported by the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) with TQD as media partner. Diversity and Inclusion is at its core. Register here

Quantum Matters: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Quantum Cybersecurity

With a US inteligence report confirming that President Putin authorised a pro-Trump influence campaign in the latest election, China and the US in a stand-off, and the recklessness of ransomware groups tolerated, and at times abetted, by state actors, geographical risk is at its highest in a long time. See my latest column in The Quantum Daily on how we are skirting the edge. And what steps can be taken to mitigate risk.

An assassination in Sarajevo. The subsequent chain of events ultimately leads to a world war. An estimated 20 million people die.

A small US bank succumbs to a cyberattack. Amidst carefully placed misinformation campaigns, bank runs and riots, the repercussions start to drag down the financial system. The US blames Russia, calls on NATO under Article 5, where an attack on one is an attack on all, and step-by-step the world explodes into the Third World War.

What unifies these two scenarios is that we are living in an era reminiscent of pre-World War I: the seeds of conflict are sown, irrigated by mistrust, and one spark can start a wildfire.

Last month at their Geneva summit Joe Biden made clear to Vladimir Putin where the US red lines in cybersecurity lie. “Certain critical infrastructure should be off-limits to attack, period,” said the US President.  One of the 16 sectors mentioned was financial services. It is a given that the message was also aimed at China, Iran and other hostile states with a track record of cyberattacks.

The US government has been in contact with American banks this year to chivy them into increasing their cyber defences, while Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated that cyberattacks are the biggest risk to the system. They can trigger a liquidity run and lead to solvency issues.

One of the most worrying possibilities is a supply chain attack. In a little-publicised paper published by the New York Federal Reserve, Cyber Risk and the US Financial System: A Pre-Mortem Analysis, the authors note that an attack on a significant service provider which connects small and medium sized banks has the potential to cause a systemic event. The concentration of banks using the few existing cloud providers, like AWS or Microsoft’s Azure, for instance, is a clear risk.

The authors also note that in a five-day cyber attack, nearly half of US financial institutions would run out of reserves by day five.

The top concern is not so much a provocation, as a misjudgement, ultimately leading to WWIII. Take the recent Colonial Pipeline attack by DarkSide. They planned to attack the business side, not the operational side, which is responsible for transmitting roughly 45% of East Coast fuel. They knew the latter would be perceived as an attack on infrastructure, bringing the might of the US intelligence services down on them for straying into the political arena.

“We are apolitical, we do not participate in geopolitics, do not need to tie us with a defined government and look for our other motives,” they swiftly posted on their Dark Web page, as they sought to excuse their error and distance themselves from suspicions of links to the Russian government.

There is no easy solution to the uncertainty of who is behind a cyber attack, nor to mishaps prevalent in a digital world.

But there is a clear need for key sectors to take a big step up in cybersecurity. Not least with China – which just celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party amid Taiwan fly-overs – on what looks ever more likely to be a collision course with the West.

Paradoxically, the quantum industry may be the answer to cybersecurity, while also being its biggest threat. The creation of quantum keys which are certifiably random – unlike the current RSA encryption and other standard ones – could provide hacker-free security. At least eleven global banks are exploring quantum safe protocols for security, ranging from JP Morgan to BNP Paribas and RBC of Canada, as reported here by The Quantum Daily (TQD). Around thirty-five quantum companies in countries ranging from Poland to Singapore are working on quantum cybersecurity products.

A handful of years down the line powerful quantum computers may be able to decrypt the data already being harvested by ransomware gangs and hostile nation states – yet another reason to experiment with current quantum cryptography.

Although information is hard to come by, China reportedly has quantum key distribution technology over fibre optic cable between Beijing and Shanghai. In essence, a quantum internet, providing hundreds of kilometres of totally secure communications.

The West is intent on catching up, with governments and companies spending large sums. Germany, for instance, announced in May a €2bn investment in quantum and related technologies, while a month later British start-up Arquit announced a link with defence company Northrop Grumman to explore its own end-to-end quantum encryption.  Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy last year unveiled a blueprint for a quantum internet.

The Cold War arms race mostly involved creating weapons of destruction, the so-called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine which, arguably, kept the peace over many decades. In the 21st century, the most important advance in keeping world peace will be security and protection: Mutually Assured Defence – not as MAD.

Can quantum save the City?

This month we comment in The Quantum Daily on why the City needs to become involved in Quantum Computing, a $10bn market over the next few years. There is a great opportunity in servicing the UK’s 73 quantum start-ups – the second largest number in the world after the US – with fundraising & consultancy, while machine learning for portfolio optimisation, and cybersecurity and MedTech are all going to benefit from it.

Quantum needs to be part of the the City Corporation’s recovery plan.

To note, I write this as a Senior Advisor to Cambridge Quantum Computing and a City champion.  

Read the article here