The long stretch of history points to clear episodes or epochs during which there were great leaps forward in innovation and well-being: from Ancient Greece to Ancient Rome, from Elizabethan Britain to post-Revolutionary France. By studying these episodes, historians have been able to pinpoint the source of these transformative episodes. The common denominator was the coming together of different cultures, disciplines, religions and experiences in one place at one time. In short, these great historical leaps forward had diversity at their heart. Historians even have a name for this – the “Medici effect”. From the past to the present. What explains why some cities today are thriving, fast-growing creative hubs: from San Francisco to Seattle to Sydney, from London to Dublin to Edinburgh. On this the economic geographers are also crystal clear. The common denominator is diversity - ethnic, cultural, sexual, educational. And if we turn finally from countries and cities to organisations and ask ourselves what hallmarks the most creative, fast-growing, productive and successful companies, what do you think academics find to be the common denominator? You don’t need an economist to tell you the answer to that; it too is diversity. Here’s a quiz question for you. At what age were you at your creative peak? 40, 30, 20 perhaps? In fact, the psychologists tell us it is around five years old. Next time someone tells you to grow up, just remind them of that.
Thereafter, these differences keep on rising through into adulthood. It seems it is far better for your future prospects to be born rich and stupid than poor and clever. 11  Standing aside from issues of fairness, this is a potentially huge waste of talent. This waste is one our economy can ill afford. It calls for a rethink of all elements of the life-cycle, from education and training to recruitment and leadership. I have not got time to do those justice today. But as one example, the move towards “contextualised” recruitment practices, which take into account a person’s social background when interpreting their talent, is a welcome step in the right direction, one the Bank has itself been taking. Let me conclude. The Diversity Project is a fantastic initiative and I hope it can help take the diversity agenda in financial services to that next frontier, to leader not laggard. The current environment demands nothing less. Thank you. 9 10 11  See Clark and Cummins (2013) ‘Surnames and Social Mobility: England 1230-2012’. See Social and Child Poverty Commission (2016) ‘State of the Nation 2015: Social Mobility and Child Poverty in Great Britain’. See Feinstein (2003) ‘Inequality in the Early Cognitive Development of British Children in the 1970 Cohort’. 6  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  6