Media.Monks Names James Nicholas Kinney Global Chief Diversity Officer

Media.Monks has appointed James Nicholas Kinney its global chief diversity officer as the digital marketing agency seeks to bring a more inclusive focus to what's been a period of rapid staffing additions. Specifically, Kinney will lead the Media.Monks' recruiting and employee experience initiatives. Kinney comes to Media.Monks from Ogilvy, where he served as global chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and North American chief people officer. Kinney has over 20 years' experience developing what he calls "high-performance cultures." A non-traditional HR leader "I'm not a traditional HR person, or traditional diversity person. I really consider myself more of a marketer and a business person," Kinney told Adweek. Media.Monks stood out as unique among marketing agencies, he said. During his interview process, he described Media.Monks leaders' "rocket ship mentality" and judged the company culture as sincere and authentic. Kinney's purview includes the S4Capital Fellowship Program, its Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and managing the company's DE&I training. He'll collaborate with HR, finance, legal and operations to build Media.Monks' global culture and expand teams. His hire comes as the agency continues to scale. Since January 2020, the company has tripled its headcount. It employs more than 8,300 people across 33 countries. “Recruitment and discovering talent is the biggest lever we have to significantly impact diversity on our team, and James' work will not only influence our headcount—he will help us activate a more inclusive culture of the best-in-class digital talent as we continue to scale around the world," said Media.Monks co-founder Wesley ter Haar in a statement. Dismantling typical hiring practices Many agencies are focused on improving their DEI metrics. The trouble is, Kinney noted, even if agencies hire more diverse employees, they struggle to retain them. Kinney aims to change the way that companies think about their staff—right down to the language they use to describe it. "I don't even use words like 'employee,' because we're borrowing this language that's been around since the 1950s," he said. Similarly, he noted the transactional nature of the phrase "talent acquisition," preferring the more welcoming term "talent discovery." With this attention to detail, Kinney hopes to alter Media.Monks' hiring and HR language. He will also develop a "deliberate acceptance team" for new employees. That idea entails welcoming and offering support to new talent at Netherlands-based Media.Monks' 48 global offices. Efforts like these are designed to aid the company in increasing retention. "You can pull people through the front door, but if they're leaving through the back door, because their lived experience is not authentic to them feeling like they belong, then really, what's the point?" he said. HR and business objectives become one Managing Media.Monks' fellowship program is another of Kinney's top priorities. The program strives for inclusivity and is open to applicants regardless of whether they have a college degree. Fellows learn different practices within the marketing agency depending on their interests, making the program highly accommodating for new talent discovering their talents. "Take the paint brush, if you will. Dip it and dip it into different colors," said Kinney of the program's flexibility. "It allows [the fellows] to paint a world that they want to see. And that's the type of talent that we're looking not only to attract, but to retain." Kinney also plans to revamp Media.Monks' existing ERGs, otherwise known as "employee resource groups." ERGs have been around for 30 years and are run like internal committees headed by staffers that are trying to direct diversity efforts from a grassroots level. Kinney's goal is broaden ERGs to include groups like caregivers, parents, veterans and more. His team plans to consult the groups for guidance before implementing company policies. For example, if the company plans to launch a new parental leave policy, leaders can first consult the parents ERG to learn about what a truly beneficial policy might entail. Sorrell: the end of monoculture Kinney wants to align ERGs with business opportunities, positioning them across the globe like an "array of satellites," with the intent of increasing business knowledge on a global scale. "It's a whole other way to think. So we want our ERGs to be a part of the cultural and business transformation process. We want them to be a part of the client process," he said. These initiatives and more are intended to translate to more informed employees and more equitable marketing campaigns. The leader pledges to spend quality time with the agency's clients, advising them on DE&I initiatives including digital accessibility. “The idea of a single mainstream culture—created and curated by traditional agencies, networks, studios and brands—is ending,” said Martin Sorrell, S4Capital executive chairman, in a statement. “Understanding and delivering upon the needs of cultures around the world means that our teams have to accurately reflect the communities we’re located in and the audiences we're speaking to.” Why Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital Is so Excited About a Period