Leveraging diversity to set the groundwork for future success: Johnny Palmer's story

If you know me, you know that I’m a very entrepreneurial person. I’ve owned several companies throughout my career and inevitably some ventures have been more successful than others. While I was a university student, one of these companies was slipping and I needed to look for a second job. This was how I fell into recruiting. 

At the time, I didn’t even know what recruiting entailed, but I spotted an interesting ad in a newspaper and was fortunately given the opportunity. This has since blossomed into a wonderful career. In 2016, I went on to join bp and have held multiple roles here across our People & culture (P&C) business function focused on resourcing, talent acquisition and DE&I.

My current role as bp’s DE&I manager allows me to collaborate daily with a range of international stakeholders, including our talent acquisition and P&C teams, employees within bp’s business resource groups (BRGs) and others across the wider business entity. It’s an all-encompassing role to ensure that we’re using the best measures and practices to attract and retain diverse candidates within bp. We want to reflect the communities in which we operate, least of all because the diversity of an organization has been proven time and time again to be a key determinant of its success.

Of course, I’ll always remain an entrepreneur at heart! For example, in the peak of the pandemic, I started writing children's books focused on representing children of color in a positive light. When I was growing up, books with characters like this didn't exist. I felt a real need to publish and share these stories, which has in turn been incredibly rewarding.

Throughout my time at bp, I’ve been offered many new experiences – including my time spent as an expatriate supporting bp’s talent acquisition team in Kuala Lumpur for a year and a half. I take pride in the fact that I’m always given complete trust, which offers me the courage to think freely about new ways to improve our DE&I. For example, a recent highlight of mine has been organising and hosting a multinational series of open house events – 'Reimaging Energy for Diverse Opportunities. Here, we’ve opened up conversations with our top DE&I executives, including Mark Crawford , to share what we are doing at bp in terms of DE&I, celebrate our successes and attract new sources of talent who would like to join us on our journey.

When I think about the value of my work, I feel proud that I can contribute to the energy transition in my own way. The individuals we’re hiring today, primarily those in the early stages of their careers, will be the people who help us achieve our net zero ambition. Ultimately, they will be the ones to experience the fruition of our goals. It’s therefore critical that we set the groundwork for the future achievements of bp by passing on our knowledge and giving our talent what they need to be successful.

It’s also going to take diversity of thought to achieve our ambition. You cannot have a singular mindset going in and expect a result that's going to resonate for the world. We must have teams which represent diverse life experiences to innovate unique solutions and ensure that we can satisfy the needs of all customers which bp serves.

I always say that my ultimate goal is to not have a need for my job in the future. This would be because DE&I is simply ingrained in all businesses, feeling as automatic as blinking your eye or your heart beating. The world still has a long way to go, but progress is emerging. 

At bp for example, in 2022, we became the only major company in our industry to have more women than men present in our group of top executives. We’re not afraid to be bold in the market. However, we’re never going to use our peers as a barometer. We want to be the best that we can be in any endeavor, and we set our own bar for success. This is what I admire and appreciate most about bp and our teams.