Marketing in the Madness

Unlocking Innovation: Why diverse teams win every time #BONUS

• Street Agency, Katie Street, Heidrun Luyt

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Creating true equity isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s a business imperative. As companies strive to stay competitive, unlocking innovation through diverse and inclusive teams is key to unlocking creativity and fueling growth.

This week we welcome back Heidrun Luyt,  a marketing leader at the forefront of driving change in industries from finance to retail, for a BONUS episode of Marketing on the Madness. To Uncover the true power of unlocking innovation through diversity and inclusion in business, and what it looks like for business when it's done right.

We’re not just talking about diversity as a buzzword. We’re getting into its real impact on product development, marketing strategies, and how businesses thrive when they break from homogeneity. Heidrun shares her experiences leading teams in traditionally male-dominated spaces and how fostering an environment of true equality has transformed the way she approaches marketing and unlocking innovation.

Here’s a taste of what you’ll discover in this week's bonus episode:
🚀 Diversity as a Catalyst for Unlocking Innovation. We explore why diverse teams create better products and services, and how including different perspectives can prevent costly mistakes.

👥 Breaking Down Barriers in Male-Dominated Industries. Heidrun reflects on her journey in FinTech and other industries, revealing how she learned to thrive—and lead—in environments where she was often the only woman in the room.

💡 Moving Beyond Labels. Why diversity isn’t just about hitting quotas—it’s about creating spaces where everyone’s voice is heard.

🛠️ The Impact on Product and Customer Journeys. We discuss how a lack of diversity can lead to missteps in product design and customer experience. It’s a powerful reminder that inclusivity isn’t just a cultural issue—it’s a business one.

🌍 Creating a Workplace of True Equity. Gain insights on how to build a workplace where diversity isn’t just a checkbox but a driver of business success. From hiring practices to team dynamics, discover how unlocking innovation through diversity can transform your business.

So, whether you’re looking to create a more inclusive work environment or want to understand the role diversity plays in driving growth, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you future-proof your business.

You can watch the FULL EPISODE here:
 
📢 Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to stay updated with future episodes. If you found this episode valuable, please leave us a review and share it with your network. Your support helps us reach more listeners and continue delivering the latest insights for marketing and business growth.
 
Links
Heidrun Luyt
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidrun-luyt/

Connect with Katie Street:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
https://www.instagram.com/streetmate/

Follow Street Agency:
https://street.agency/
https://www.instagram.com/street.agency/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/streetagency/


Heidrun:

You have to get rid of the categories and just go, let's just have people of different backgrounds. The more they bring to the table, the Wiser the totality of the group becomes. When I walk into a room, I just see people I seriously don't pay attention to difference per se. I just take it as we're all humans here. So let's get on with the work. How

Katie:

are you going to design the best product or design the best marketing journey? We now know we need to have diversity on the panel. It's quite obvious

Heidrun:

how different decisions are made when different brains are working together, the more people you have, different backgrounds, the higher your chances to create something fantastic. When

Katie:

I speak to people that are having the most impact in this space, it's chuck everything else away. It's all about us being totally equal and bringing as many diverse groups as possible into these conversations to drive the change that we need. Hey guys, welcome back to marketing and the madness. Now, today's episode is one of my favorite episodes. Well, all my episodes are brilliant, but these are some of my favorite because these focus on or today's episode focuses on how to help women get ahead in the world of work. And if you haven't heard last week's episode, I had the lovely Heidrun on Heidrun and I were talking last week about marketing and innovation and really how to drive that commercial growth within business using marketing. But today we're going to talk about how businesses can drive growth by creating total equity for everyone, regardless of sex, race, etc. So Heidrun, I know similarly to me, you're I mean, we were very passionate about marketing, but also very passionate about this. Because I think what we spoke about last week was around innovation, and in order to drive innovation, you've got to think differently. You've got to try new things. You've got to be brave. But I truly also think another thing that drives innovation is creating fairer workspaces where you have more diversity across the business, because yeah, with that drives better ideas. So obviously, you've worked in a lot of different businesses from the financial sector. So for those of you that didn't listen to last week's episode, Heidrun's head up marketing at some awesome brands from places like I'm going to try and name some of the brands now. David Lloyd, which is where we met, Pipedrive, Le Creuset, yeah, if I saying it right, yes, but yeah. IG, so some big financial institutions, which is where I guess, in my head could be more male dominated sometimes. So tell me about, well, one your views on this subject, and how you think, you know, we can really drive change. Yeah,

Heidrun:

absolutely right. I mean different industries obviously have, you know, slightly different profiles, because, rightly or wrongly, they draw you know different people. And you know all industries go, obviously, with time through, you know different phases and trends, etc. But if you know you mentioned the financial industry and iG at the time FinTech, I mean, you bring, really, the two pieces together, technology and finances, and you have a lot of men still in the room, funnily enough, though. And this tells you a little bit probably about myself and how I see the whole topic on diversity is I remember, you know, I must have already worked there for at least a year, and there was a video production of a female leader being interviewed, and, you know, different questions asked. And one of the questions was how she feels about, you know, working in such a, you know, male dominated space. And she said, You know, every time I walk into a room, a meeting room, I am 100% aware that I'm, quite often, the only woman in the room. And as she said that, I said back, and I'm like, Oh, I'm the only woman in the room. I never realised because when I walk into a room, I just see people. Yes, I seriously don't pay attention to difference per se, because I just take it as well. We're all humans here, so let's get on with the work, right, and let's all chip our ideas in. But it really kind of made me aware that other people feel very different about and they're very aware of it and what it does to them. Does it give them now a feeling of power or feeling special? Does it give them a feeling of feeling intimidated and not quite in the right place? Either way, it's not equal, is it? And I. Am a big, big, big fan of driving diversity across teams, and diversity means the whole spectrum of diversity. So this is gender, this is race, this is cultural background, it's educational background, it's age, it's, you know, disability, etc, etc, etc. It's everything, because it's quite obvious of how different decisions are made when different brains are working together what you don't know you can't act on. So to give an example, I listened to that the other day when the iPhone was kind of created, and the sizes of iPhones were tested and whatnot. Well, the most participants in the test group were men. They have different sizes of hands, so decisions were made about the size, and then it comes into consumers hands, and all of a sudden, you know, people with smaller hands find it really difficult to actually, you know, do this. So the lack of diversity in the product team, the testing team, the data, led to a product that, by all means, is fantastic, but it has a flow. And so what you don't know, you don't think about, you can't fix, you can't get better, right? And therefore, the more people you have of different backgrounds, of all types, and you do brainstorming, or you look at a problem together, the higher your chances to create something fantastic.

Katie:

Yeah, I love that Heidrun. It's such an important point that I think is sometimes overlooked. And it goes into product design. It goes into marketing, if you don't have like you say, different people with different experiences, different use cases, testing a product, developing a go to market strategy. How are you going to design the best product or design the best marketing journey? Same goes for one thing that I have, I guess, noticed over time, is you can and as women probably say it now, is like, Oh, you can tell a man designed that because we behave, let's say, in store very differently to how a man might, but often, traditionally, 1020, 30 years ago, probably most of the in store journeys architects and I don't know in store designers or online retail journeys were designed by men, but actually It's us women doing the most of the shopping. So I think there's, there's been a huge, I mean, that's one example of many, but I think there's been some huge advancements in that, like we now know, you know, we need to have diversity on the panel, but also we need to have, you know, people that are doing the doing on the you know, but also people that are not, because we want to think about new things. So I think, for me, that has, that's been incredibly important to see, and you can start to see the, you know, the better journeys that are being designed for us across every product, marketing in store, whatever it might be.

Heidrun:

I mean, I would even take that a little bit further and say, you know, it's not only to have diversity in terms of, okay, I now have equal amount of men versus women and different ages, and, you know, different cultural backgrounds, etc, etc. You have to understand that, you know, whilst you and I are women, we're very different to one another. So, you know, we so therefore there isn't just that's the way women do it, or that's the way you know men do it, or that's the way an old person would do it. You almost you just you have to get rid of the categories and just go, let's just have people of different backgrounds, yeah, and let them work together. And the more they bring to the table, the Wiser the totality of the group becomes, and the better the outcome is. So it's almost kind of really getting rid of, you know, the categories. Yeah, I

Katie:

love that. I think, like you say, and when I speak to people that are having the most impact in this space, it really is all about that. It's chuck everything else away. It's all about us being totally equal and bringing as many diverse groups as possible into these conversations to drive the change that we need. Heidrun, it's a very short episode today because we're going to run out of time in the studio, but a big thank you for joining me again. It's been fantastic to unpack some of this with you again. I could have spoken to you for so much longer, but really appreciate your views, and I think there's going to be some really helpful, directional content that we've created today that will really help people super

Heidrun:

thank you so much. Was great.