Inclusive Leaders & CEO Impact Podcast by DIAL Global · 2025-09-10 · 20 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
46 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Mark Lomas brings a unique perspective to organizational culture built on his background in classical music, where early career setbacks around network access led him to recognize systemic barriers affecting all talent. At Lloyds of London since January 2022, he's implemented a culture oversight framework that creates consistency across the Lloyd's Market - a complex ecosystem of 50,000+ professionals across numerous organizations. His approach combines three critical elements: alignment on shared definitions of success, an evidence-based data strategy (using market practices and policies returns plus culture surveys), and the Dive-In Festival to engage and inspire diverse talent. The results speak clearly - Lloyds met its 35% women in leadership target by 2024 and exceeded it in 2025, while the Inclusive Futures program (responding to Lloyd's history with transatlantic slavery) has hired 2,509 ethnically diverse candidates this year alone and over 7,000 since inception. Culture survey performance shifted from below financial services benchmarks on 25 of 27 indices in 2019 to above on 25 of 27 today. Lomas emphasizes that this isn't about individual brilliance but hundreds of people working in concert with aligned frameworks and continuous improvement methodology.
Lloyds met its target of 35% women in leadership by 2024 and began to exceed it in 2025. Through the Inclusive Futures program, the organization hired 2,509 ethnically diverse candidates in a single year alone, with over 7,000 hires from that community since the program's inception.
The market shifted from being below financial services benchmarks on all key indices in 2019 to being above on 25 out of 27 indices, equal on one index, and below on one - demonstrating substantial improvement across the organization's cultural health.
The Culture Oversight Framework provides consistent expectations across the decentralized Lloyd's Market (multiple organizations) regarding culture, diversity, and talent management, enabling coordinated progress while managing stakeholder complexity.
His training in classical music exposed him to how network and access - not competence - determined career success, leading him to recognize systemic barriers affecting all talent and informing his evidence-based, equity-focused approach to organizational culture.
The Dive-In Festival serves as a key engagement and inspiration vehicle for diverse talent, helping to build a compelling narrative about opportunities in the market - contributing to the dramatic increase in early careers applications from limited numbers three years ago to 6,000+ today.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
There are a handful of concrete data points (culture survey indices, hiring numbers) that carry some informational value for DEI practitioners, but the surrounding commentary is dense with platitudes - 'evidence-based approach,' 'consistent framework,' 'hearts and minds' - and the strategic advice offered is largely generic. The ratio of actionable novel insight to filler is low for a 20-minute runtime.
the market as a whole go from below financial services benchmarks on the culture survey and basically on all indices in 2019 to above on 25 out of 27 of those indices equal on one and below one
What gets measured, gets done
The 'not my job to be an activist - what have you done for me lately?' accountability framing is a genuinely useful and somewhat contrarian reframe for DEI roles under pressure, but most of the episode recycles standard DEI practitioner orthodoxy (evidence-led, business-aligned, consistent framework) with no first-principles or counterintuitive arguments elsewhere.
I always say it's not my job to be an activist. I'm a Black man. I don't speak for every Black person on the planet
I should be able to stand in front of any group of staff or stakeholders and answer a really simple question and that's what have you done for me lately?
Mark Lomas is a genuine senior practitioner who has operated across BBC, HS2's multi-billion-pound supply chain, and Lloyd's of London at market scale - not a career conference speaker. However, the Head of Culture role is a specialist function rather than a P&L or CEO seat, and the depth of operational detail surfaced in the transcript doesn't fully exploit his experience.
Then HS2 with the billions worth of supply chain and procurement and then on to Lloyd's Market
I came to Lloyds in January 2022
The episode delivers a solid cluster of real numbers - hiring totals, benchmark indices, application volumes - which is above average for DEI podcast content. However, the numbers lack methodological context (what the culture survey measures, what the financial services benchmark actually is), and no causal mechanism linking specific interventions to outcomes is named.
2,509 hires this year alone from that community and over 7,000 since its inception
Last year it was 7,000 plus for 28 spaces at the corporation
The host spends substantial airtime validating, summarising, and editorialising rather than questioning; there is no pushback, no probing of causality, and no productive tension. The pre-existing personal relationship ('we go way back') renders the interview functionally a friendly endorsement session rather than a rigorous conversation.
Oh, my goodness, it is an incredible story and it doesn't matter how many times I hear it
Unbelievably wise words to finish on, mark
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Advancing Diversity and Inclusion: Insights from Mark Lomas of Lloyd's of London Join us on Inclusive Leaders as we sit down with Mark Lomas, Head of Culture at Lloyd's of London, to explore his inspiring journey and the impactful strategies he employs to foster diversity and inclusion across the organization. From meeting ambitious targets in leadership diversity to innovative initiatives like the Inclusive Futures program, Mark provides actionable insights grounded in evidence-led approaches. Tune in to learn how authentic leadership and a commitment to equitable opportunities drive cultural transformation and success. Continue the conversation on LinkedIn
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
1 - >
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Inclusive Leaders. 2 - > This is a show where I speak with the most inspirational and 3 - > thought-provoking leaders of today and unearth their unique 4 - > stories of diversity and inclusion to help inspire, 5 - > educate and motivate others to make the world a better place. 6 - > Today, I am absolutely thrilled to be joined by the brilliant 7 - > Mark Lomas. 8 - > Mark is the Head of Culture for Lloyds of London. 9 - > He's had an enviable career, having worked for the likes of 10 - > HS2 for those in the States, that's High Speed 2. 11 - > Of HS2 for those in the States, that's High Speed 2. 12 - > He's also worked as a diversity manager for the BBC and held an 13 - > array of other roles in his formative career, such as 14 - > working for the Law Society of England and Wales, amongst other 15 - > things. 16 - > Mark, welcome to the show. 17 - >
Speaker 2: Thank you, great to be here. 18 - >
Speaker 1: We go way back, Mark, don't we? 19 - > So I think, for those who don't know you as well as I do, it'd 20 - > be wonderful to have a little bit of a run through about you, 21 - > the great work that you're doing at Lloyds of London and what 22 - > you're seeing in the market at the moment. 23 - >
Speaker 2: Sure. 24 - > So my road to Lloyds was a long and windy one through a number 25 - > of different sectors In my experience, all sectors, 26 - > particularly in the UK and mostly globally. 27 - > You retain that talent, how you progress that talent. 28 - > And that talent might not just be kind of the people you employ 29 - > , it might be how you engage with communities, it might be 30 - > supply chain activity, et cetera , but essentially how you do the 31 - > best business. 32 - > I think that's what I focused on in my career. 33 - > I came to Lloyds in January 2022. 34 - > And it's been great to see the progress that Lloyds has made 35 - > over the last few years. 36 - > So in 2024, Lloyds met the women in leadership ambition 37 - > that it had set a number of years ago, which was for 35% 38 - > women in leadership across the market. 39 - > We met that in 2024 and began to exceed it this year. 40 - > We set a one in three hiring ambition for ethnically diverse 41 - > groups as part of our inclusive futures work, our response to 42 - > Lloyd's history with transatlantic slavery. 43 - > That continues to progress with 2,509 hires this year alone 44 - > from that community and over 7,000 since its inception have 45 - > launched our inclusive futures program and have seen the market 46 - > as a whole go from below financial services benchmarks on 47 - > the culture survey and basically on all indices in 2019 48 - > to above on 25 out of 27 of those indices equal on one and 49 - > below one. 50 - > So it's a story of some really good progress over a period of 51 - > time. 52 - > I think a consistent approach, evidence-based approach and then 53 - > having a number of parties and organisations pulling in the 54 - > same direction is definitely a contributing factor. 55 - >
Speaker 1: Wonderful and, mark, on the personal side of things, 56 - > you've done some incredible things on a personal note and I 57 - > think what's really fascinating about you being in this culture 58 - > role for such a well-known organisation is the fact that 59 - > you bring your personal experience into how you then 60 - > lead with authenticity, you lead cultural change and ultimately 61 - > understand that full 360 strategic approach to creating a 62 - > more equitable future. 63 - > Talk to us a little bit more about the personal and the 64 - > business. 65 - >
Speaker 2: Sure. 66 - > So all my training was in music . 67 - > As you know you've heard this story before All my training was 68 - > in music. 69 - > So I went to music school here. 70 - > I went to Juilliard School at 16, finished university at 19, 71 - > and kind of came back to the UK ready to kind of forge a career 72 - > in classical music, having made a good amount of money playing 73 - > concerts when I was younger. 74 - > And then I ran into a real life lesson, which was network was 75 - > absolutely king, and that experience of kind of being 76 - > really highly successful and then having future success 77 - > predicated not on your competence or ability but on 78 - > your network and access really was a really difficult life 79 - > lesson. 80 - > After getting quite frustrated and quite broke to waiting for 81 - > things to happen, I went back to Bermuda for three weeks, which 82 - > is where I'm from, got off the plane at kind of 6.30 and had 83 - > numerous job offers by kind of nine o'clock that night. 84 - > And that experience over the next week or so really kind of 85 - > led me to reflect what on earth is different about me? 86 - > And then the answer was nothing . 87 - > What was different was the environment, my access to 88 - > networking and opportunity. 89 - > And so when I flew back to the UK I started to do lots of music 90 - > , technology work and folks were going off on tour. 91 - > So I decided to work with a disability charity just to keep 92 - > myself busy and out of trouble. 93 - > Plus, my daughter was born, so I wasn't going to get away with 94 - > going off on tour for a few months with a newborn and I was 95 - > basically a pain in the backside to that regional manager. 96 - > Why do you do things this way? 97 - > Wouldn't it be better if you did this? 98 - > Or blah, blah, blah. 99 - > And so she sent me to the diversity committee and I 100 - > observed that meeting was very direct with the CEO of an HRD at 101 - > that meeting and that one opportunity to cut rather 102 - > differently. 103 - > And then from there I've had a series of really interesting, 104 - > really interesting roles like designing the benchmarking 105 - > system, the Law Society, diversity and Inclusion Charter 106 - > for the legal sector. 107 - > Then going on to HS so they go to BBC sorry, doing lots of work 108 - > there on how they manage diversity and inclusion in kind 109 - > of the media sector. 110 - > Then HS2 with the billions worth of supply chain and 111 - > procurement and then on to Lloyd's Market who had 112 - > particular challenges around diversity, retaining talent, 113 - > progression of that talent and transforming really the 114 - > perception of the market and transforming really the 115 - > perception of the market. 116 - >
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness, it is an incredible story and it 117 - > doesn't matter how many times I hear it. 118 - > I always reflect on that and think, from arts and creativity, 119 - > which I do think does not get the kudos that anyone 120 - > necessarily gives it in a professional context, it has 121 - > such a lot of power to enable other great things to happen. 122 - > And, as you've articulately said there, um, you know, going into 123 - > being very sector agnostic in terms of the experience working 124 - > in everything from media through supply chain diversity, right 125 - > the way through to talent progression, culture and even, 126 - > ultimately, sales and marketing, because we're obviously serving 127 - > our customers, who are ultimately diverse, it just 128 - > shows that real golden thread, as we within this industry often 129 - > like to call it, and it is very much that golden thread that 130 - > you articulate throughout the personal career, but also within 131 - > the various skills, the industries, the verticals within 132 - > organisations that you've worked in. 133 - > So I guess, moving into some of the strategies that you have 134 - > taken and perhaps some of the more nuanced challenges of the 135 - > insurance sector, talk to us a little bit about those. 136 - > Obviously, lloyds is doing very , very well when it comes to 137 - > meeting targets and increasing everything from ethnic diversity 138 - > through to the great success of the Dive In Festival. 139 - > Talk us through how you've looked at this as a business and 140 - > what perhaps other organisations and leaders can 141 - > learn. 142 - >
Speaker 2: Right. 143 - > I mean, I think one of the benefits of the Lloyds market is 144 - > that it is a market, so it is a group of organisations and, yes 145 - > , while that adds some kind of stakeholder management 146 - > complexity and you have to listen to views and take people 147 - > with you and organizations with you, it also means when you move 148 - > in concert, you can make progress rather quickly, and I 149 - > think there are a number of things which have contributed to 150 - > sort of the increase in progress or the rate of progress 151 - > over the last few years. 152 - > I think the first is alignment on what we mean and where we're 153 - > going, so that's very important. 154 - > What does good look like? 155 - > What are we trying to achieve? 156 - > The second is being able to articulate a very consistent 157 - > framework for companies across the market. 158 - > So we have our culture oversight framework, which helps 159 - > companies understand exactly what our expectations are in 160 - > terms of culture, diversity, talent, etc. 161 - > When you're working in the Lloyds market, and that 162 - > consistent framework is very, very important. 163 - > And then we have the approach that I've always liked to take, 164 - > which is this is a continuous improvement game that we're all 165 - > in together, and that means we spend time ensuring that we have 166 - > really great data and insights and we get that through our 167 - > markets, practices and policies return on diversity and data. 168 - > We understand what it feels like, via the culture survey, to 169 - > be an individual in our sector and we have great routes to 170 - > engage and inspire people, like the Dive-In Festival and being 171 - > kind of evidence-led. 172 - > So making sure that you have that evidence base to design 173 - > your policy and interventions means you can kind of aim and 174 - > shoot where you need to make progress. 175 - > Of aim and shoot where you need to make progress, and then 176 - > being able to work across a market which is, you know, more 177 - > than 50,000 strong, has a plethora of opportunities, means 178 - > it's a convincing story that you can tell to people and 179 - > broadly. 180 - > We had to do better at that and we started to do much better at 181 - > that. 182 - > You know, this year I think I don't think our early careers 183 - > applications have closed yet, but the number of applicants 184 - > stands at 6,000 plus now. 185 - > Last year it was 7,000 plus for 28 spaces at the corporation we 186 - > are attracting a hugely diverse range of talent and top talent, 187 - > so much so our early careers process could feed the entire 188 - > Lloyd's market by itself, and that is a complete change from 189 - > three years ago. 190 - > So I think what it demonstrates is if you act on the evidence, 191 - > you act in concert and you engage people and have a 192 - > consistent framework for people to work against, you can make 193 - > pretty rapid progress mark. 194 - >
Speaker 1: Like me, you are as geeky about frameworks and data 195 - > um as I am. 196 - > Um. 197 - > It's the classic, isn't it? 198 - > What gets measured, gets done. 199 - > And evidence-based frameworks and diversity, inclusion, 200 - > belonging, equity, culture, all of those wonderful things are 201 - > the heartbeat of our organizations. 202 - > It's really those as commercial levers to drive the economic 203 - > growth and prosperity that we are wanting to see, that we are 204 - > looking to see and hearing some of these statistics are. 205 - > You know, they're really a great number of steps forward 206 - > from where you were a number of years ago, thanks to to yourself 207 - > , of course. 208 - >
Speaker 2: I wish I could claim the credit Certainly not any 209 - > work of genius on my behalf. 210 - > It's hundreds of people working across the market. 211 - >
Speaker 1: Well, well done to everyone who is listening in 212 - > from Lloyds. 213 - > It does mean a lot for, I think , employees to hear and to feel, 214 - > because this is a hearts and minds thing as well. 215 - > As much as we love data and we love numbers and we love all of 216 - > these statistics, it's also a hearts and minds piece, and 217 - > employees who really connect with their leaders, like 218 - > yourself, and they share some of those similar experiences 219 - > engagement goes through the roof . 220 - > A stat that you probably heard many a time that still makes me 221 - > smile is that those who feel that they don't fit in spend 30 222 - > percent of their time worrying about how they do. 223 - > And I often think about that when I reflect on the career, as 224 - > I'm sure you do, and as you are working with early careers 225 - > individuals. 226 - > Wanting them to succeed is. 227 - > Think about the time where you're worrying about how you're 228 - > perceived in interview and in early careers conversations. 229 - > Well, that could be going into productivity if you were less 230 - > worried about how you looked, sounded, all those kind of 231 - > things. 232 - > And so it really is that cultural piece that's at the 233 - > heart of of what we do and why it's so important to have 234 - > culture officers like yourself holding and driving the mantle 235 - > forward. 236 - > So before we wrap up, mark, it would be great just to ask a 237 - > couple of lightning round questions. 238 - > If I may, I'm going to give you about 30 seconds to answer each 239 - > of these. 240 - > What's authentic leadership to you? 241 - >
Speaker 2: So I think the best authentic leaders in gender 242 - > trust in their teams. 243 - > Number one, it is about being yourself, but it's not about 244 - > just doing things the way you want to do them. 245 - > I always think it's my job to get the best out of my team, and 246 - > if that means different approaches for different people, 247 - > then that's what it means. 248 - > So, consistent values, consistent approach, um, very, 249 - > very, uh important, and I think it's that, um, you know you, you 250 - > can, you can demonstrate what's meaningful to you by the way 251 - > you act, and that kind of uh open, honest and early, I think 252 - > is the absolute best way to engender uh trust with the, with 253 - > the team and who's inspired you most throughout your career, or 254 - > indeed your life or do you know what? 255 - > I've had so many? 256 - > Uh, I've had so many really good managers. 257 - > You asked me this last time and I uh and uh, or before, and um, 258 - > uh, so, um, a couple. 259 - > Number one that that regional manager that I mentioned from 260 - > shore trust with, without. 261 - > Without her, we wouldn't be talking in disguise today, 262 - > definitely, but I'm also a complete Liverpool fan, so one 263 - > of the kind of leadership positions that I really admired 264 - > was Jurgen Klopp and his statement, which was all I need 265 - > you to do is turn you from doubters into believers and 266 - > we'll be successful. 267 - > And that ability to craft a common vision and get everyone 268 - > behind it is something that I've often seen in the most 269 - > successful leaders, whether it be football or any other 270 - > industry. 271 - > So for me, I always think about that. 272 - > If I can turn any team from doubters into believers, we're 273 - > going to get where we need to go . 274 - >
Speaker 1: And finally, any closing remarks or advice to any 275 - > other practitioners right now who are facing the dreaded words 276 - > geopolitical headwinds and you know, of course, headwinds, and 277 - > you know of course this is a role, the role of culture, 278 - > inclusion of social responsibility, of business for 279 - > good. 280 - > It comes with it a lot of responsibility and it needs a 281 - > lot of tenacity. 282 - > So give us some great advice for people who are listening in 283 - > thinking I've got to dig deep and find something, somewhere to 284 - > keep moving the dial in the right direction. 285 - >
Speaker 2: So I think for me it's, you know, it is alignment 286 - > to the business strategy. 287 - > What is it the business is trying to achieve? 288 - > And you know, when you boil away the complexity, every 289 - > business is after the same thing , right they do a better job 290 - > with the customers or clients that they have. 291 - > They find new customers or clients, they innovate new 292 - > products or services. 293 - > They have the best people, talent, working for them, 294 - > attracting them, retaining them, and essentially that extends to 295 - > the suppliers they work with in their wider ecosystem. 296 - > So you've got to figure out what is important to the 297 - > business that you work with and how you help them achieve that. 298 - > And I always say it's not my job to be an activist. 299 - > I'm a Black man. 300 - > I don't speak for every Black person on the planet, let alone 301 - > every black man. 302 - > It's my job to represent the entire organization and I should 303 - > be able to stand in front of any group of staff or 304 - > stakeholders and answer a really simple question and that's what 305 - > have you done for me lately? 306 - > And if I can answer that for anyone in our ecosystem that 307 - > needs to ask it, then I can be pretty confident we're doing a 308 - > good job. 309 - > And that sometimes means saying we're not doing anything 310 - > because the data, the evidence tells us we don't need to and 311 - > things change. 312 - > So that evidence-led approach means that when you need to 313 - > pivot, you can pivot based on evidence, what's right for the 314 - > business, what's right for the wider ecosystem, and not 315 - > necessarily any fashionable headwinds at the time. 316 - >
Speaker 1: Unbelievably wise words to finish on, mark. 317 - > Thank you so much for joining me. 318 - > Some of the things that really stood out for me from our 319 - > conversation and I always learn something when we speak is to 320 - > really go back to some of our initial values and to remember, 321 - > for those that are coming up in their careers, how important 322 - > having that strong network and creating access to opportunity 323 - > is if you're a more senior manager, because talent is 324 - > everywhere. 325 - > We've heard many a time talent is everywhere. 326 - > Opportunity is not and I know that's something that we share a 327 - > running theme to our, our passion to do this great work 328 - > but acting on evidence absolutely key. 329 - > Like any other business strategic imperative, this needs 330 - > evidence. 331 - > It needs that evidence-led approach that you've spoken 332 - > about and being able to liaise with various different 333 - > stakeholders at lots and lots of different levels, and so 334 - > activism for the one, necessarily, but actually making 335 - > sure that we look at this as a more holistic business strategy, 336 - > from supply chain to where we're putting our pounds, our 337 - > black pounds, our pink pounds, our you know, our women owned 338 - > organizations and female led pounds right the way through to 339 - > the employees and the customers we serve. 340 - > Female-led pounds right the way through to the employees and 341 - > the customers we serve. 342 - > Mark, it's been tremendous having you, as ever, absolutely 343 - > brilliant conversation. 344 - > If you have been affected by anything in today's podcast, 345 - > please make sure you reach out. 346 - > Don't be a stranger. 347 - > You can check out Mark's profile. 348 - > He is on LinkedIn Search Mark Lomas and also visit Lloyds of 349 - > London. 350 - > If you are looking for a summary of some of the learnings 351 - > from today's show, you can check those out as well at 352 - > wwwdialglobalorg. 353 - > Forward slash podcast and in the meantime, we will look 354 - > forward to seeing you again very soon.
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