I've only hired a handful of people in my career, and I'm not an expert in diversity or inclusion. I have seen some discussion of late about diversity hires v the idea of hiring the best person for the job. I do have some thoughts and experience here, which follows ->

I think the 'hire the best person' argument misses the extent to which hiring criteria are normally insanely tighter than the actual work involved. That's done as a filter to get from a vast pile of decent candidates to a short list, but it's not actually required. ->

Finance tends to look for straight A students w excellent degrees in quantitative subjects from excellent universities. Then, 99% of the time, there's no maths harder than discounting cashflows. The CFA is a huge syllabus, but none of it is that intellectually challenging. ->

Tech, famously, sets whiteboard interview problems (to be solved without resources or collaboration) that are far harder than the day-to-day work.

Do you actually need a first in English from Oxbridge and an MA in marketing to learn how to write press releases? You do not. ->

Most jobs are fairly straightforward, learnt by doing and can be done as well as possible by most of the applicants.

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You can hire diverse, even if you don't hire the person who does *the best* at the tests, by recognising that the tests are insanely over-engineered. All you are looking to do is hire someone you're happy to work with who is clearly capable of doing the work involved.
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Sure, if you're hiring a consultant anaesthetist for premmy neo-natal open-heart surgery or a specialist in sediment transport by kelp in the Atlantic or whatever, the candidate pool might be tiny and not offer all the diversity you seek, but that really, really isn't most jobs.>

I have done this and it has worked well for me. I trust that it can work for you too, and that your leadership and mentoring and the example you set can bring through a new generation in our/your industry that is more representative of the cities and societies in which we work.