“Can I use my power and privilege to widen the table and take action?”

Ahead of speaking at Creative Equals’ RISE conference next week, Frank Starling, Chief DEI Officer at Lions, is asking a question which reflects his approach to allyship. He describes allyship as the ability to show up with and for people you don’t necessarily identify with. An action-first approach which is rooted in both community and collaboration.

“This year, collaboration is very important and the work Creative Equals does both at the RISE event and throughout the year is important,” he explained, adding: “Inclusive thinking and inclusive creativity is the future of the industry.”

In amongst the complex political landscape of 2025, Starling understands the power of playing the long-game when it comes to inclusion.

He emphasises that polarisation in itself is not new. “We are seeing a more nuanced use of language attacking DEI,” he explains. He notes that a key challenge for the industry to navigate remains the fear of change.

“We need to detox our egos,” he shares, adding that it is vital to ensure not just that the room is representative, but that we centre the experiences of others. 

It is an approach that is more than words. In a year when diverse talent is working so hard to thrive in an industry which still keeps telling them they shouldn’t be here, doubling down on impact is vital. It demands active listening and creating space for community.

Creating impact through collaboration is at the top of Starling’s agenda. Ali Hanan, CEO of Creative Equals, credits him with a humble approach to making change firmly rooted in facts not feelings. He often leans on data to reflect the long-term impact of Lions’ approach to inclusion. 

His approach to impact is rooted in academic excellence. Starling has done the work. He is an Associate alumnus of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, an accredited Psychological Safety Consultant and certified in DE&I from Cornell University. He also serves as an Enterprise Advisor to the Mayor of London.

He has a solid track record of building robust frameworks ahead of industry fads, or headline grabbing one-off ‘initiatives’.

In November last year, the festival announced it was doubling funding of its Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) passes. With a pledge to provide £2m worth of complimentary passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities. 

Starling is committed to increasing representation from the Global South to support a greater range of voices and perspectives from the region at the Festival. 

Breaking the Glass Lion

At the same time a decade of ‘Glass: The Lion for Change’ came hand in hand with a shift to embrace greater intersectionality. While the award was introduced to champion work that used creativity to drive a shift towards more positive, progressive and gender-aware communication, it is now evolving to embrace a more intersectional lens. 

Marian Brannelly, Global Director of Awards at Lions, explained: “Gender representation remains essential, and following consultation and research there is now a need to evolve the Lion to recognise the importance of intersectionality, from disability and race to sexuality and social inequity. This Lion is an award for change.”

She continued: “Expanding the scope allows us to celebrate ideas that promote more equitable representation for a broader range of communities and also reflect the importance of embedding authentic inclusivity throughout the creative process.”

Psychological safety drives creativity

Starling takes a nuanced view to the notion that a fear of backlash is holding brands back creatively, reflecting the fundamental faultline between headlines and the corporate acrobatics that come hand in hand with compliance. 

“Brands are going to ensure they are compliant with any law globally,” he explains. A diplomatic way to navigate the complexity of brands publicly ‘sunsetting’ DEI goals. 

For Starling, the key insight is that a lack of psychological safety is holding companies back creatively and commercially.

Harvard Business School Professor, Amy C Edmondson coined the term ‘team psychological safety’ in the 1990s to describe work environments where candour is expected and where employees can speak up without fear of retribution. “Psychological Safety is something we have to sense check as organisations,” he explains, sharing the three questions to ask on an organisational level: “Can we challenge? Do we have a representative workforce? Are we fostering creativity?” He continues: “In that scenario, you really can make space for brilliant people who are independent thinkers who can create change.”

He believes in the power of being intentional in investing time in training and development to create that foundation of psychological safety. A growth journey that the Lions organisation itself has embarked on. 

By 2050, an estimated 40% of the world’s children will be living in Africa, a significant shift from 10% in 1950. “It is important to recognise there are big generational shifts in how we approach the work,” explains Starling. He continues: “Underpinning any kind of work with inclusion can be a driver for growth and better standards. That is so important as communities look for authentic connection,” he explains.

Starling is focused on ensuring that an even greater number of countries can access the festival and is particularly passionate about opening the festival’s doors to more first time delegates from the Global South.

As an organisation, it is clear Lions sees its responsibility as more than simply reflecting the best inclusive work back at the industry. “As an organisation, it is about how we embed more inclusive outcomes in our work,” he explains. From the ERA programme to the See it Be It accelerator for women and non-binary people, this focus is having a positive impact. 

The room where it happens

It is also impossible to sidestep the fundamental inclusion challenges the festival faces. In a challenging economic climate, an agency CEO talking about the virtues of diversity and inclusion on a yacht in Cannes is a sentence that may well make you instinctively clench. 

Yet love it or loathe it, the ad industry, like Hamilton’s arch-rival Aarron Burr before it, wants to be in ‘the room where it happens’ and that room is still Cannes Lions. A simple fact that makes ensuring diverse talent can access that room a point for impact and change. Ensuring diverse talent has access to the creative industries' greatest global networking opportunity can only accelerate change. 

In a hybrid and global creative ecosystem, the power of face-to-face networking is at a premium. As Starling explains: “Making that time to meet in person has an incredible value - many individuals who come to the festival tell us how much it drives their careers forward.”

His advice to young talent starting out in the industry today is simple yet effective: build your network. “Right now the real challenge for young talent is can they access that network: whether it is about access to the senior leader in their organisation, access to our festival or access to critical thinking and learning,” he says.

Rather than simply building fleeting connections with a large number of people, Starling recommends building authentic connections with a smaller number of people. He notes that the importance of a network transcends all stages of the career journey, adding: “Mentors can sometimes forget about the importance of having a mentor themselves.”

Breaking barriers

“The importance of breaking barriers is clear,” says Starling. He points to research from the first cohort of ERA delegates stating that 90% of the feedback was positive, but he is not standing still. “The question is how can we ensure they are in the right rooms and it's a constant iteration curating more events for the community.”

There will also be safeguards on the ground and safe zones created. As reports from last year’s festival underline, sexual harassment is not a historic issue but an ongoing one. Just as consumer-facing festivals have stepped up to better safeguard attendees, business events are now following through. The advertising industry is buoyed by the hard work of the volunteers who have spearheaded the TimeTo movement, successfully breaking the silence and misplaced shame which surrounds harassment.

Lions must also be credited with the micro moments of inclusion that serve to underline a wider cultural shift towards inclusion. Starling himself is taking his 4 year old son to the festival and using the creche available. 

“The response has been really positive and it is a fantastic opportunity that many of our parents who are also delegates choose,” he shares.

Change is a team sport

If there is one thing that is clear in talking to Starling, it is that his focus on the ‘we’ rather than the ‘me’ is authentic. He credits his colleagues, Natasha Woodwal, Director of Content at Cannes Lions and Jonathan Branfield, VP of Awards Operations, for driving forward a representative speaker base and the most representative jury the organisation has ever seen respectively. Creating change is a team sport.

In an industry that moves fast, Starling is committed to moving beyond performative measures or window dressing to make change in the long term. Impact is everything. Explaining the ethos of his approach, he explains: “First and foremost, it is about impact over volume, we really focus on what is going to be the most impactful.”

Collaboration with organisations such as Creative Equals will ensure that Lions supercharges that impact all year round. Momentum matters. “This year will be our most globally representative festival yet,” explains Starling. A telling reminder that even in today’s challenging political landscape, it is possible to keep raising the bar. We can all aim higher together.

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