I’ve been hesitant to write this week’s article because it feels scary and vulnerable. In the current U.S. political climate, “diversity” is an incendiary word. But it’s also something that comes up time and again in a supply chain – not just within the people in an organization, but also among suppliers. Today let’s talk about diversity in suppliers, diversity as a leader, and diversity in a team.
When I was doing a lot of hiring in 2020-2023, I used to always ask the question for every position: What does a commitment to diversity mean to you? I once had a candidate answer me:
“Diversity is a second choice.”
This answer blew me away. It was so simple. What do we have without diversity? We have a choice between two of basically the same supplier with the same strengths. A choice between two candidates who aren’t really different. A choice between two jelly beans of the same flavor (true confession: I might be snacking on Jelly Belly’s as I write this article).
A choice without diversity is a false choice.
Diversity in the Supply Chain
In the supply chain, diversity is often applied to suppliers. I wrote a more in-depth article in April 2024 about supplier diversity, reasons diversity brings true value, and actionable steps to add diversity to your supplier base. Here’s the short version:
Benefits to supplier diversity
- Build goodwill in the community where you operate
- More suppliers to choose from
- Increased flexibility available from smaller suppliers
- Selling point to employee candidates seeking a mission-driven organization
Key actions to increase diversity:
- Find diverse suppliers (Descartes, Scoutbee, or your local chamber of commerce)
- Examine your own barriers to entry for suppliers (sometimes put there on purpose to cut down on sales “noise”)
- Consider holidays other than your country’s standard set when publishing Requests for Proposal (RFPs)
- Thoughtfully award work to secondary or even tertiary suppliers
- Be a supplier’s partner – be willing to commit to them on paper so small businesses can secure financing to grow into strong suppliers
Diversity as a People Leader
As a leader of people in any organization, I have always believed your primary duty is to help your team members develop and grow. This means supporting them in growing in the best direction for them, not having them grow to be more like you. I’ve seen so many leaders fall into the trap of dismissing anyone on their team who doesn’t want to hold the manager’s role some day or who doesn’t want to follow the same footsteps as their leader (nevermind that literally no one follows the same career path to anywhere). Make a space for your people where they can not only be themselves, but also grow their own way. Leave lots of room for that to be different for every team member.
Token diversity doesn’t work. Critical mass theory says the tipping point from tokenism into true diversity is around 30%, although in some spaces that can be a little less. Someone who is viewed as a token isn’t actually bringing a diverse viewpoint to the table, instead they’re usually bringing silence. Hire people who are not like you. In every way.
After all, you need all the different personalities that show up in a supply chain around the table – both the Steady Eddy and the Technical Guru!
My Experience
This is where this article gets harder for me. I was a female engineering student in the mid-2000s and was shocked at the chauvinism I encountered once I entered the workforce.
- I was accused of being a diversity hire shortly out of school because I was the only female design engineer in a company with 250 design engineers. I held the only advanced degree in my team when I was accused of being the diversity hire (including my boss).
- I have been in a group of male engineers where one looked at me and said, “Women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Present company excluded, of course.” He was kind of joking, but he really wasn’t.
- I’ve been the only woman in the room or on a team so often that I’ve stopped noticing unless someone points it out.
- And I have a client who a couple of months ago was in a conversation where a male peer told her she couldn’t do her job because the last man who held it couldn’t do it and she was only a woman. In front of one of her team members.
I say this to note that these things are still happening. Today. In 2025. They’re not gone or conquered or vanquished back to the 1970s.
As for hiring, I have never been asked to hire someone because they represented diversity for our company. I have been asked to give a chance to multiple straight, white males. While this is debatably closer to nepotism than any other “ism,” my lived experience is that a DEI program didn’t deprive white, straight males of an opportunity. And it feels risky and scary for me to say that out loud.
What to Do About It
We all have to be braver about expressing our lived experiences. We also ALL have to be allies. Allies means speaking up when you hear a peer or (gulp) a superior say some boneheaded thing that is racist, sexist, ableist, ageist, or any other ugly “ist.” This is where white, straight men have a HUGE role to play. I am part of a Supply Chain Women private LinkedIn group run by a white man. He means well and I won’t name him here for that reason. But I recently looked on the group page of articles and had to go down eight posts to find a woman in supply chain pictured or even mentioned. All other posts were about white men. If this is you and you read this far, my plea to you is this: be an ally. I promise you will be rewarded for your efforts as you move through your career. It will make you a better leader, a better person, and it will make it more likely someone says your name positively in a room you aren’t in.
I know that I only hold one diversity – that of being female. I otherwise hold a majority position is almost anything you can measure. So I cannot even imagine if my own experience also included racial diversity, gender diversity, strong neurodiversity, or even age diversity. If that is you, and you’re still reading this, please know that I’m with you and want to support you any way you want to be supported. Together, let’s work toward the tipping point where we can stop noticing we’re the “only” in the room.
If you’d like to talk about your supplier diversity, team diversity, or even your own experience, let’s chat.
