Your Authenticity Isn’t a Liability”: Kishan Mangat on Influence, Executive Sponsorship and the Real Work of Building Buy-In
On 28 April 2026, the ERG Blueprint Conference brings together ERG leaders, DEI professionals, HR and talent directors, and executive sponsors for a full day of practical learning and peer connection at Leonardo Royal St Paul's in London. Designed by network leaders for network leaders, the conference exists to give ERG chairs and committee leads the tools, insight, and community they need to build more strategic, sustainable, and impactful networks.
One of the day's most anticipated sessions is "Influence and Persuasion: Gaining Buy-In and Executive Sponsorship," led by Kishan Mangat, Co-Chair of iCAN, the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network, and Legal Counsel at Talbot Underwriting. A qualified solicitor with a decade's experience in civil litigation, Kishan brings a sharp, analytical lens to the often-overlooked emotional and political dynamics that shape how ERGs gain, or fail to gain, real organisational traction.
Ahead of her session, we sat down with Kishan to explore what ERG leaders are up against when they walk into a room with senior stakeholders, and what it takes to shift the dynamic.
What's the most common emotional barrier you see in ERG leaders when it comes to influencing senior stakeholders?
Honestly, it's fear of being seen as too much. Too demanding, too political, too focused on one agenda. ERG leaders, particularly those from underrepresented groups, often carry an invisible weight when they walk into a room with senior stakeholders. There's this quiet internal negotiation happening: "How do I make a compelling case without coming across as difficult or self-serving?" That fear leads to self-editing, and self-editing leads to diluted messages that don't land. The irony is that the very passion and lived experience that makes ERG leaders so credible is often the thing they feel they need to dial down. One of the things I'm really hoping people take away from this session is that your authenticity isn't a liability. It's your strongest currency.
In your experience, what's the biggest difference between how influence works in theory and how it plays out inside real organisations?
In theory, influence is about logic and evidence. You build a compelling case, present the data, and the right decision follows. In practice, organisations are made up of people with competing priorities, long memories, and a lot going on behind the scenes that you'll never see in a strategy deck. Real influence is relational. It's built in corridors, over coffee, through the small moments of consistency over time. I learned this working in law before I co-founded iCAN. The most persuasive thing you can do in a courtroom isn't always your closing argument. It's the trust you've built with everyone in that room long before you get to that point. The same is true in organisations. By the time you're presenting your business case to the board, the work of influence should already be largely done.
What's one assumption ERG leaders often hold about executives that quietly limits their ability to build strong relationships?
That executives already understand the landscape and are choosing not to act. It's a common assumption, and I get where it comes from. But in my experience, a lot of senior leaders are genuinely time-poor and working with incomplete information. They're not always the obstacle. Sometimes they're just waiting for someone to make it easy for them to say yes. When ERG leaders go into conversations assuming resistance, it changes everything about how they communicate. They become defensive before they need to be, or they over-explain in ways that can feel like a lecture rather than a conversation. Starting from a place of curiosity rather than assumption tends to open far more doors.
Have you noticed any patterns in who tends to become effective executive sponsors, and who almost never does, even when they have the right job title?
Yes, absolutely. The executives who become genuinely effective sponsors are usually people who have experienced some form of being the outsider themselves. Not always in an obvious way, but they have some reference point for what it feels like to have to work harder to be heard or taken seriously. That tends to create empathy that goes beyond the performative. On the other side, the sponsors who rarely deliver, regardless of seniority, are the ones who treat sponsorship as a reputational badge rather than a responsibility. You can usually spot them fairly quickly. They show up for the high-visibility moments but go quiet when there's a difficult conversation to be had internally. Genuine sponsorship means using your political capital, and not everyone is prepared to do that.
What's a subtle but powerful signal an ERG can send early on that makes leaders take them seriously without saying a word?
Rigour. When an ERG shows that it understands the business, not just the cause, it changes how it's perceived at senior level. That might mean framing your goals in terms of retention data, talent pipeline, or market positioning. It might mean the quality of how you run your meetings, the clarity of your communications, or the fact that you follow up when you say you will. Leaders are watching all of that, even when it doesn't feel like it. iCAN was taken seriously early on partly because we were consistent and professional in everything we did. We weren't just enthusiastic. We were credible. And credibility is something you demonstrate quietly, long before anyone formally acknowledges it.
What's something ERG leaders do with good intentions that undermines their credibility at senior levels?
Going too broad too quickly. There's often this pressure to show that your ERG is relevant to everyone, that it has wide appeal, that it's solving every problem. And I understand the instinct, because it comes from wanting to be taken seriously and not dismissed as niche. But the paradox is that trying to be everything to everyone usually results in being nothing in particular to anyone. The ERGs I've seen gain real traction are the ones that are laser-focused on a specific outcome, at least initially. They prove impact in one area, build trust, and then expand from a position of strength. It's the same principle as any good legal argument, really. Overreach weakens your case.
If you could sit in on the internal dialogue of a senior leader being asked to sponsor an ERG, what do you think they're really weighing up in that moment?
I think the honest answer is that they're weighing up time, risk, and relevance. Time, because sponsorship done properly is a real commitment and they're already stretched. Risk, because visible association with any group or cause carries political considerations within an organisation, whether they admit that or not. And relevance, because the question at the back of their mind is almost always: "What does this actually mean for my part of the business?" The ERG leaders who navigate this most effectively are the ones who answer those unspoken questions before they've even been asked. They make it easy to say yes by removing the ambiguity around what the role involves, and by connecting it clearly to something the leader already cares about. That's not manipulation. That's just good communication.
What to Expect at the ERG Blueprint Conference
Kishan's session, "Influence and Persuasion: Gaining Buy-In and Executive Sponsorship," takes place on Tuesday 28 April 2026 at Leonardo Royal St Paul's, London, as part of the ERG Blueprint Conference.
The ERG Blueprint Conference is the UK's flagship event for ERG leaders, brought to you by iCAN and Howlett Brown. Whether you're launching a new network, strengthening an existing one, or trying to make the case for greater organisational investment, the conference offers a full day of expert-led workshops, honest conversations, and meaningful peer connection across sectors.
Tickets are available now at erg-blueprint.co.uk. Join over 200 ERG leaders and inclusion professionals for a day that's been designed, from the ground up, to support the work you do.
Join Us at the ERG Blueprint Conference 2026
Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE will deliver the keynote at the ERG Blueprint Conference 2026 on 28 April in London.
Expect an energising and thought-provoking session on influence, leadership and the future of employee networks.