Business leaders must “set a course” on diversity and “steer to it despite the storms ahead of us”, Lloyd’s CEO Patrick Tiernan says.

Opening the 11th Dive In festival last week, ahead of events around the world including several in Australia, Mr Tiernan said the project’s aspirations need no justification.

Embracing diverse opinions is “just good business” and an economic imperative – not only a political one.

“This year feels like a moment of truth, a moment to stand up and be counted when the zeitgeist makes that harder, not easier,” he said at the London launch event.

“True leadership is not being swept by the prevailing currents. The case for inclusion of the brightest minds, the case for embracing diverse opinions to find optimal solutions, the case for ensuring equality of opportunity by casting the net to all parts, needs no justification.

“Belonging is not a soft issue. It drives growth and innovation. It’s not an add-on – it’s fundamental to our performance.”

This year’s Dive In theme was Belonging Builds Tomorrow, and the festival’s tagline was – for the first time – not “diversity and inclusion” but “culture and talent”.

Mr Tiernan said the right workplace culture is “not a side project for us at Lloyd’s” but is central to “stronger underwriting and the bedrock of long-term outperformance”. 

“My goal for Lloyd’s and the wider market is to be that beacon for talent, a place the best and brightest are inspired to be ... This is why Dive In matters,” he said. 

“There’s no career that is more varied or more vital, but we’ll only persuade people to come and join us if they see an environment in which they believe they can belong, if they see people like themselves succeeding, and if they feel they’ll be welcomed, supported and challenged.” 

He added: “It's not just HR, and we’ll know we’ve succeeded not by slogans or by spreadsheets, but by the energy and the ambition ... Amid the current climate of uncertainty, the world ... needs an insurance industry at the top of its game.”

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