
Mohsin Zaidi
Mohsin Zaidi is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and management consultant, based in New York.
Mohsin Zaidi's videos
What Mohsin Zaidi's clients say
"Mohsin’s speaker session at Bain was incredibly powerful. We had an outpouring of positive feedback after the talk – from people expressing both their gratitude for having the chance to be part of an open conversation on critical intersectional topics, and their praise for Mohsin as a powerful storyteller. If you’re an organization that cares about DE&I and mental health you MUST get Mohsin to come for a session with your people."
"I hosted an event between PwC and NatWest where Mohsin talked about his book and the themes in it with PwC's Head of Client Experience…[it was] one of the largest events we have ever had in the Diversity and Inclusion space both virtually and in person. I have had a huge amount of positive feedback after the event that it was an incredibly important set of topics to cover (including social mobility and mental health) and that it was great that our company had taken the time to discuss them. Mohsin was a pleasure to work with - helped us prepare appropriately and spent a good amount of time with the facilitator to get her up to speed. He was brilliant on the day and helped us navigate through some difficult yet important questions."
"Mohsin brought every bit of himself to the discussion and let the audience in on the conflict that was raging inside of him for a long time. He deeply moved his listeners and made them re-think what they can do to make their environments more inclusive. He is witty, thought-provoking, eloquent and worth every minute of your time"
"I have engaged Mohsin as a speaker twice, once at BBC Studios for its Inclusion Summit in 2017 and again at The LEGO Group in time for National Coming Out Day in 2020. Mohsin is an engaging and charismatic speaker on D&I topics including social mobility and mental health, who gives his audience pause for thought and opens up valuable discussions within organisations. Mohsin's professional experience means he is a great collaborator in terms of designing a keynote session or panel discussion, and in both instances I've seen Mohsin tailor his content to specific audiences. The feedback on both his appearances has been excellent."
"We were delighted to have Mohsin talk to clients, partners and staff as part of a joint LGBT+ History Month event with Combar, Techbar and the Chancery Bar Association. Having read from A Dutiful Boy, Mohsin answered questions for nearly an hour – candidly engaging across many of the themes and stories so poignantly told in his memoir. He has a way of tackling difficult subjects such as mental health, intersectionality and class authentically, and in a completely non-preachy way. And he was a delight to deal with."
"It was an absolute pleasure to have Mohsin speaking at the Faculty. The event flowed like no other and the conversation covered so many relevant topics, I wish we had him with us for longer. One could see from the numbers and the kinds of questions we received how needed this conversation was and how inspirational Mohsin story is. He was brilliant and we hope he will consider coming back, once the pandemic is over, as he can definitely captivate an audience!"
"A Dutiful Boy is utterly brilliant, and a conversation with Mohsin to get an even deeper insight into his experiences is even better than that. At Mental Health First Aid England we had an hour long conversation. Mohsin answered our questions candidly and generously. I know from feedback that we got goose bumps, felt his pain and felt his joy. The sign of a brilliant conversation is wanting more when it finishes. I was left wanting more."
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- English
Mohsin Zaidi's 2025 biography
Meet Mohsin Zaidi
Mohsin Zaidi is an award-winning author, commentator and qualified lawyer. His memoir, A Dutiful Boy (Penguin, 2020) won the Polari Prize, the Lambda Literary Award and was named Guardian, GQ and New Statesman Book of the Year; providing a personal insight into issues of diversity and inclusion, mental health and justice.
The Guardian describes it is ‘a profound meditation on the power of the human heart to transcend the contradictions of diverse cultures and create something new…utterly compelling…providing a lesson of acceptance for us all, and for the future of our multicultural society. The Times says it is a book that will save lives.
An advocate for LGBT rights, BAME representation and social mobility, Mohsin sits on the board of Stonewall and is listed by The Financial Times as a top future LGBT leader. A regular commentator on Sky News, he also writes for CNN Style, Bustle, Mr Porter and Newsweek and was recently listed in The Lawyer Magazine Hot 100.
The first person from his school to go to Oxford University, Mohsin subsequently qualified as a lawyer at Linklaters and is now a management consultant at advisory firm Hakluyt. He has also previously worked at a UN War Crimes tribunal in The Hague and as Judicial Assistant to Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson at the UK’s Supreme Court.
Mohsin Zaidi's 2025 talks & topics
Mental Health
Mohsin addresses the stigma around mental health within ethnic minority communities and draws a parallel between it and a cultural stigma around discussing mental wellbeing at work. Through very personal and at times harrowing tales, Mohsin articulates the case for honesty in personal identity within yourself but also at work and amongst colleagues.
Social mobility
The single most pressing issue of diversity facing society and businesses is the one to which we give the least attention. While measures of equity on race/gender/sexuality move in the right direction, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen. Through personal experience of growing up in a council house and going to school ridden with gang violence (a school from which he became the person to go to Oxford University), Mohsin addresses the issue of class bias and discusses what we can do about it.
D&I / Intersectionality
None of us are just one thing and Mohsin is the personification of an intersectional life. On race, Mohsin has the facts and figures to back up the experiences of ethnic minorities we so often hear about in the news. On class, he speaks candidly about the difference between the world he came from and the world he now lives in. On sexuality, he describes the struggle to accept yourself in the face of cultural stigma. But the strength in his experience lies in the intersectional tale it tells.
The power of representation
Through eye opening stories in a professional and personal context, Mohsin explains how diverse representation in key roles doesn’t just demonstrate a commitment to being an inclusive organisation but adds value to it.
Book group
Q&A with a senior person from the company around critically acclaimed memoir ‘A Dutiful Boy’ drawing on all the strands Mohsin writes and speaks on.