Stephen Frost
Global Diversity, Inclusion and Leadership Expert, CEO & Founder of Frost Included
Globally recognized, diversity and inclusion expert Stephen Frost helps organizations understand, lead and deliver inclusion systemically, adding measurable value to their bottom line. He was the first-ever Director of Diversity & Inclusion for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (London 2012). Stephen teaches Inclusive Leadership at Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, and at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). He has served as an expert advisor to the British Government, The White House, and KPMG’s Diversity and Inclusion Program. Stephen is the author of The Inclusion Imperative, Inclusive Talent Management and Building an Inclusive Organization. Stephen was recently named one of the top 100 influential LGBT people in the UK.
Full Profile
About Stephen Frost
A pioneer in workplace inclusion, Stephen was the first Director of Diversity & Inclusion for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and later headed diversity at KPMG. As founder and CEO of Included (formerly Frost Included), he works with leading organisations to overcome barriers to inclusion, ensuring that diversity translates into effective teamwork, innovation, and enhanced business outcomes.
Stephen’s practical expertise stems from designing and implementing major change programmes, most notably, the landmark Diversity Champions initiative at Stonewall and enterprise-wide transformation at the Olympics. He’s consulted for government bodies and blue-chip corporates, taught Inclusive Leadership at Harvard, Singapore Management University, and Sciences Po, and advised the British Government, The White House, and KPMG.
Stephen’s influential books, The Inclusion Imperative, Inclusive Talent Management, Building an Inclusive Organization, and The Key to Inclusion, offer actionable frameworks for organisations seeking to unlock greater talent, creativity, and market performance through authentic inclusion.
Business Impact & Business Challenges Addressed
- Disengagement and ‘Sameness’ Addiction: Stephen highlights how habitual, exclusionary patterns stall growth and innovation, helping leaders break addictions to uniform thinking amid increasingly diverse workforces.
- Underperformance of Diverse Teams: He empowers organisations to go beyond “diversity by numbers,” creating environments where all employees are valued, heard, and able to perform to their full potential.
- Weak Inclusion Strategies: By positioning inclusion as both a business imperative and central strategic driver, Stephen enables clients to move D&I from a compliance mindset to culture-changing action.
- Leadership Blind Spots: His sessions and advisory equip leaders to lead inclusively, embed best practices, and maintain clarity on their personal ‘why’ for inclusion.
- Cognitive Load & Change Resistance: In his latest work, Stephen addresses “cognitive load” as a persistent barrier to effective inclusion, teaching leaders to reduce complexity and foster growth mindsets and cultural intelligence.
- Digital Transformation & Future of Work: Stephen supports clients facing the inclusion challenges of digitisation, helping them futureproof talent strategies and build resilience for new ways of working.
Stephen Frost’s sessions energise audiences with actionable tools, real-world examples, and proven strategies suited to Chief Diversity Officers, HR leaders, executive teams, and boards seeking lasting progress and competitive advantage.
Talks
How to Develop an Inclusive Mindset and Behavior for Business and Personal Success
There’s a simple contradiction in the way leaders manage their people and run their organizations that is too often overlooked; they are addicted to sameness in an age of diversity. That is fundamentally an unsustainable position to be in. Understanding and being adept at inclusive leadership will help leaders thrive in their increasingly diverse environment.
Inclusion is not just about accepting people’s differences – it’s about leveraging colleagues’ and employees’ unique experiences and backgrounds, as well as understanding your customers’ needs, to drive innovation and results.
Reframe inclusion for leaders to benefit them and the wider organization. Learn from real-world examples and understand what being an inclusive leader looks like.
By attending this session, you will learn how to:
- Learn what inclusive leadership practices are in practice
- Be inspired to find your personal ‘why’ and become an inclusive leader
- Benefit your organization at large by embedding inclusivity from the top
PROGRAM FORMAT: From a 45-75 minute keynote with Q & A to a half-day workshop
PERFECT AUDIENCE: Chief Diversity Officers and Human Resource department leaders.
A diverse workforce doesn’t mean your organization is a safe and inclusive place to work. It doesn’t mean that your employees are able to perform to their full potential. In order to leverage the true power of a diverse workforce, your organizational culture must be inclusive. Learn how to make this a reality.
By attending this session, you will learn how to:
- Practical insights and ‘nudges’ needed to create and maintain an inclusive workplace culture
- Learn how to engage your organization in this culture, from top to bottom
- See how organizations are doing this successfully
PROGRAM FORMAT: From a 45-75 minute keynote with Q & A to a half-day workshop
PERFECT AUDIENCE: Chief Diversity Officers and Human Resource department leaders.
Without inclusion, diversity can fail. Stephen offers a powerful, humorous and compelling argument for inclusion, based on empirical evidence from around the world combined with the latest Harvard research. It is a thought provoking, challenging and informative opportunity to refresh the believers and convert the currently unconvinced that inclusion enhances.
In order to be successful and make a real impact, inclusion needs to be central to organizational strategy. It must be fully supported by the CEO and have buy-in from key stakeholders and be central to how your organization operates day to day. Learn how to make this a reality and why inclusion will benefit your organization as a whole.
By attending this session, you will learn how to:
- Position D&I to support the core purpose and impact of the organization.
- Ensure D&I is part of organizational strategy.
- Design diversity and inclusion strategies tailored to the business goals of an organization
PROGRAM FORMAT: From a 45-75 minute keynote with Q & A to a half-day workshop
PERFECT AUDIENCE: Chief Diversity Officers and Human Resource department leaders.
What does Inclusion of the Future Look Like
Many organizations have talented Diversity Officers and operate Diversity 101 programs; however, they may find a way to get the most out of their program they need to upgrade to inclusion 4.0. Diversity is great, but so is bringing differences together in one team, and often this second imperative is forgotten in the pursuit of the former.
The next phase of inclusion needs to address the realities of living in a digitally equipped world. Inclusion 4.0 looks at where organizations must now develop. It looks at how to embed inclusion into overall strategy and operations, as well as how to attract, recruit, retain, and upskill a diverse team that gains competitive advantage and is greater than its parts.
By attending this session, you will learn how to:
- Prepare for the future of work by facing new inclusion challenges head on
- Move your organization beyond inclusion compliance, debiasing systems, and marketing messages
- Learn how to embed inclusion into overall organizational strategy
PROGRAM FORMAT: From a 45-75 minute keynote with Q & A to a half-day workshop
PERFECT AUDIENCE: Chief Diversity Officers and Human Resource department leaders.