One to Watch – Matthew Beetar, equality, diversity and inclusion specialist at Accent Group

What’s your proudest moment or biggest achievement so far?

Meeting Nelson Mandela and working with his organisation – what an incredible privilege.

And what has been your hardest moment?

At former places of work, learning first-hand about bullying and discrimination in the workplace and the effect this can have on your self-esteem, productivity and overall happiness.

Who has been the most important person in your career – and why?

My father. He was a civil servant for 35 years, a highly respected local leader and a strong role model.

He demonstrated that the best businesses survive and thrive with compassionate leadership. I’ve tried to adopt this approach in my career.

Performance isn’t incompatible with caring – about people and about what you do.

What’s the best piece of work advice you’ve ever been given?

Lead with kindness: people won’t remember what you do, but they’ll remember how you make them feel.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A genetic engineer – I was very taken with Jurassic Park!

If you could change one thing about the sector, what would it be?

I would love to see social housing getting more public investment again – there’s a real need nationally for more resource. And that young people see social housing as a great sector to work in, where you get to work in a fast-paced environment that has strong social values.

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

I was a telephone charity fundraiser for a short while. It wasn’t a bad job, but I was so bad at it!

What’s the best thing that happened to you this week?

Getting my Spotify Wrapped. But also having the privilege of facilitating a great discussion about neurodiversity in the workplace, hearing from colleagues with autism and ADHD about ways we can be more inclusive.