Fixing the Leaky Pipeline: A Practical Guide for Leaders on Race Equity

A lot of organisations still explain the lack of racial diversity in leadership as a pipeline problem. It sounds neat, but it doesn’t hold up.

In this episode, I unpack why progress on race equity so often stalls the further up an organisation you move, even when there’s effort, investment, and a genuine desire to improve.

I look at what the data actually shows, why the pipeline story keeps sticking around, and what’s really happening to ethnically diverse talent once it enters the workplace. From affinity bias to who gets backed, seen, and described as having potential, this is about the systems that quietly shape progression.

If you’re serious about moving from good intentions to real change, this will give you something much more useful than another vague conversation about representation.

Highlights:

(03:33) Why the “pipeline problem” story keeps coming up

(10:30) What the data says about talent and leadership

(15:30) How professional racism hides in plain sight

(17:03) Why affinity bias keeps shaping progression

(20:30) What trickle-down equity looks like in practice

(23:53) The harder question leaders need to ask themselves

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Ngozi

Obehi

Aurora Company Profile 2026