Modern businesses cannot afford to confuse polish with potential. The 93% Club highlights how much commercial value may be missed when companies recruit, promote and reward people through narrow social signals rather than genuine capability.
This weekend, I listened to an interview with Sophie Pender, a British social mobility campaigner and activist best known as the founder and CEO of The 93% Club, a network for state-educated students and professionals. Its purpose is to reduce the advantage created by private-school networks by giving state-educated people access to similar support, contacts and opportunities.
Sophie grew up on a north London council estate, with panic buttons in the house in case her father, who struggled with drug addiction, tried to break in while using. She was the first student at her school ever to achieve straight A*s at A level, at a school where the GCSE pass rate was 32%. She then went to university in Bristol and was struck by the distinct class barriers and broader knowledge gaps she encountered. This was when she started The 93% Club.
By the time she finished university, Sophie had already built an established brand that was gaining traction across multiple universities and attracting significant media coverage. When she started work as a lawyer the cultural gap became even more apparent as her language, appearance and cultural references led to remarks from peers that she felt belittled and undermined her. At the awards evening concluding the graduate programme, she was awarded the “most likely to be a Love Island contestant” – hardly a ringing endorsement of the strong professional credentials she had demonstrated during her training and more a reinforcement her feeling that her colleagues struggled to look through her voice and background.
Sophie’s story stuck with me. I did not grow up on a council estate. I went to a high-achieving state school in a competitive catchment area. My family are all teachers, and I got my first MacBook for my tenth birthday. Yet even I have sometimes felt lower-middle class and a little out of place. So how can we bring greater cultural diversity into the professional workplace?
The starting point is access. The professions are more easily accessibly when you know the score – when your family knows how they work: how to apply, how to network, how to speak about yourself, which internships matter, and which employers are worth approaching. Speaking with colleagues I can see that this “inside” knowledge has been learnt by osmosis from a young age through families, schools and social networks. Children whose families sit around the “supper” table talking about politics, current affairs and careers are more likely to develop an interest in these from a young age than those who eat “dinner” in front of Eastenders or Corrie.
As Sophie Pender experienced these learnings do not stop when you land the plum first job and finally get through the door. Professional environments reward (dare I say expect?) behaviours that acquired in more affluent settings: ease with senior people, confidence in unfamiliar settings, fluency in the unwritten rules of networking, and a style of self-presentation that feels familiar. For those with different backgrounds (often lower-socio economic, cultural or racial), progression requires an additional layer of work over and above work skills. This includes learning the unwritten rules / codes of the environment, managing to speak, vocab, and how to present themselves. That burden is rarely visible, but it can affect confidence, sponsorship and progression.
In the interview, Sophie also discussed statistics on employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds in the financial and professional services sectors. A 2020 report by the Bridge Group found that it takes those from lower socio-economic backgrounds 25% longer to progress, despite no evidence of poorer performance. The report also found that nine in ten senior roles in financial services are held by people from higher socio-economic backgrounds.
As I was pootling around the house, I kept thinking about how Sophie’s story translates into the workplace, especially at a time when many younger workers are experiencing poor mental health.
When we sell a business or assist with a fundraising, people are always one of the key value drivers. Investors assess whether the business has a strong management team, a credible second layer, low key-person risk, a resilient culture and enough talent to support growth.
A business which only recognises only one version of leadership or professionalism is probably narrowing its talent pool, promoting the person who appears most comfortable, rather than the person with the best judgement. It may overlook people who bring different instincts, different experience and a different understanding of customers, employees or risk.
Founder-led, mid-market businesses often rely on a small group of trusted people. That can be a strength, particularly in the early stages of growth. But as a firm scales, raises capital or prepares for sale, it needs depth. It needs people who can challenge assumptions, take responsibility and help the business operate beyond the founder or original leadership team.
People from less advantaged backgrounds may have had to develop resilience, adaptability and practical judgement early. They may also see market opportunities, different skills in recruits or a customer persona that others miss. That perspective is valuable, but only if the business is able to recognise it and take steps to nurture and support a diverse rand of talent.
