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Diversifying the Supply Chain Industry with Shay Abrahams
143 Plays1 year ago
In this episode, Shay Abrahams, Senior Events Manager at S&P Global joins Host Brian Glick, CEO of Chain.io, to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion in the supply chain industry.
Shay runs the diversity committee at the TPM conference, which is focused on making TPM a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. Through this initiative, the committe also aims to support increased diversity of the supply chain industry as a whole.
Attending TPMTech or TPM 2023? Make sure to check out the Chain.io booth at TPMTech or meet with our team wihle you're in Long Beach!
Follow Shay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shay-abrahams/
Follow Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansglick/
Chain.io Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chain.io
Chain.io Twitter: https://twitter.com/chain_io
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Transcript
Podcast Relaunch and Acknowledgments
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to supply chain connections, the chain IO podcast. I'm Brian Glick, chain IO's founder and CEO. Uh, thanks for joining us back after a hiatus and a little bit of a rebranding of the podcast. Before, before we dive in, I wanted to give a big thanks to, to Sarah and Molly from the channel marketing team for resurrecting this and doing a lot of the heavy lifting to, to get the podcast back out, uh, over the next few months and years we'll be.
00:00:28
Speaker
Continuing our journey of introducing you to interesting people into the supply chain space and hearing their stories and how they're using technology to move their companies forward.
Guest Introduction: Shay Abrams and DEI Focus
00:00:39
Speaker
We have a really exciting episode today that's very timely. We're going to talk to Shay Abrams from S&P Global and more specifically from Journal of Commerce. Shay runs the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
00:00:56
Speaker
for the TPM conference, which is coming up just after this episode releases. They've been very honored to be part of that committee this year. And I thought it was important that we highlight the hard work that they're doing to move not just the event, but the industry forward. So without further ado, let's get into the episode. Shay, welcome so much to the show. Thanks for being here. Of course. Thanks for having me.
Shay's Career Journey and DEI Motivation
00:01:24
Speaker
So let's dive right in with, um, tell us a little bit about yourself about you have a unique role in the, in the industry here. So, uh, kind of how you, what was your journey to get, to get to where you are? Yes. Um, so I am Shay Abrahams. Um, I've been at JOC now six years. Um, so my profession is technically an events organizer. So I graduated, um, with a event management degree and I just kind of hopped around different industries, FMCG, financial markets, property, um,
00:01:54
Speaker
and ended up in supply chain logistics, maritime, and loved it actually. So stayed now six years, started off organizing maritime events. I don't know if you're familiar with the Fairplay magazine that we used to have here at S&P Global at the time IHS market, but we used to organize a lot of events in London. And I worked on the TPM conference
00:02:21
Speaker
And having done events in industries that are primarily male, white male, middle age, always kind of felt like, you know, I didn't see a lot of people that looked like me, never had a manager that looked like me, actually still haven't, by the way. But yeah, so I just kind of naturally fell into a role at JOC where
00:02:50
Speaker
Um, I could make a difference in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Um, I've got, we've got great leaders and so I, I now am chairing the DEI committee. Um, and I also, um, a board member of one of our people resource groups, Empower. Awesome. So let's, let's catch up some people who maybe don't spend as much time in ocean freight as, as you and I do. What, what is TPM and what is SMP?
The Role and Impact of TPM Conference
00:03:17
Speaker
So S&P is, well recently became S&P, we were IHS market, but we are a data driven company, so we provide information to multiple different sectors and markets. Within S&P Global, we have JOC, so we provide insights into the logistics and transportation industry, and TPM is a conference that brings together shippers,
00:03:41
Speaker
carriers, multiple different stakeholders across the supply chain. And it's in Long Beach every single year. So yeah, that's the event. And I would argue that in North America, it is the place to be if you were doing anything related to Ocean Freight is the one thing on the calendar that you're not allowed to miss. Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:07
Speaker
So within that, we are both members of the DEI committee, which I'm honored to have been invited to participate in this year, which led to us meeting each other. What does the committee do? What is the objective there? So the idea is to make TPM a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment as an event as a whole.
00:04:34
Speaker
Um, but also we are, we understand that we have a opportunity to support the broader industry of their own DEI goals. Um, so that that's kind of our two pillar, uh, approach to the committee. Um, and we do various different activities to try and support the achievements of those goals and which I'm sure we're going to dive into it. Absolutely. Absolutely. But, uh, before we do that again, just let's, you know, there's acronyms on top of acronyms when it, when it comes to.
00:05:03
Speaker
shipping when it comes to event planning, when it comes to tech, we're all pretty guilty of it. And actually, it can be a big barrier to bringing people in from an inclusion standpoint is this kind of wall we create of these acronyms. So the DEI industry has its own set of acronyms, DEI being the biggest one of them. What is the difference between diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Understanding DEI: Concepts and Initiatives
00:05:31
Speaker
So diversity is really making, looking at a different type of groups, people of different attributes that identify in different ways. Some examples could be gender, race, ability, your background, your economic background. There's so many age, you know, how the different ways that people identify themselves.
00:05:56
Speaker
accepting that we're all different and we all come from different places and bring unique values and talents to the workplace. Inclusion is all about the sense of belonging and feeling as if you are included. Is your voice heard? Do you feel valued? Are you comfortable? Are you happy? Can you be your true self? And equity is all about essentially fairness, recognizing that some people need more help than others.
00:06:26
Speaker
And it's okay, I mean, I don't know if you've ever seen the illustration where you've got a wall, a brick wall, and you've got three people of different heights, and therefore they all have different height stores to stand on so that they all end up being the same height. And it's recognizing that some people need three blocks to look over the wall, some people only need two blocks to look over the wall, and some people only need one block to look over the wall, and that's true equity. Awesome. What are some of the things that
00:06:55
Speaker
that we're doing at TPM this year or that we've done in the past that to really help further these goals. So this year we have the DEI honors, which we did also last year. And that kind of hits on our second pillar, which is all about supporting the industry, the transport and logistics industry in their DEI goals. And
00:07:20
Speaker
You know, my hope for the honours is to showcase what companies are doing. Not everyone is, you know, five years, 10 years into DEI. Some companies are only just thinking about it. Some companies are five years in, but a lot of companies are doing some really great work.
00:07:35
Speaker
And so we ask companies to submit nominations and tell us what they're doing so we can share those best practices, share the business results with the wider industry and encourage people to do the same. And if I can just add another one that I'm excited about is some of the ideas that came from your team, Brian, in terms of making the event feel more inclusive.
00:08:00
Speaker
We have a wide selection of non-alcoholic beverages for the non-drinkers this year at TPM, and I'm really excited about that. Yeah, that was a big topic when we talked to our internal DI group to help bring these ideas was that we have people with different religious backgrounds and people that it's sometimes very hard to participate in any industry event because there's such an alcohol-centric
00:08:27
Speaker
Uh, set of behaviors once the, either once the event's over or during the cocktail hours and what have you. So yeah, I'm also really excited. Uh, one of the things that I know came out of the committee was let's not just have one non-alcoholic option that's boring. So I know there's going to be a couple of non-alcoholic craft cocktails available at, at, at the, uh, at the honors at least. So I'm also excited to try those.
00:08:50
Speaker
All the receptions, you know that that's the plan is is it's not fair that the alcohol drinkers get to have a suite of options and Non-alcoholic, you know drinkers only get one or two. So let's level out the playing field there I may end up spiking my non-alcoholic beverage, but that's okay What about One of the things that going back to the
00:09:17
Speaker
the topic of the honors and the submissions. One of the things that I noticed this year from the inside in participating is there's a very wide range of companies that submit and probably a lot of companies that don't submit because they think they can't qualify because they're not, they don't have a department of 10 or a chief diversity officer or something like that.
00:09:42
Speaker
Can you talk a little bit about how we went about making sure that smaller companies or companies that are at the beginning of the journey can get honored as well? Well, one of the big differences between this year and last year is this year we have four categories because we recognize on the point of equity, we recognize that sometimes smaller companies with smaller budgets or if companies are starting off in their journey,
00:10:05
Speaker
They might not have all the answers. They might not have all the resources. They haven't yet figured out what they should be doing for their employees and their workforce. But it's important that we recognize any effort to drive this forward. It's not easy. It requires budget. It requires a lot of work from everybody within the organization. It's not just a top-down approach, but it's also a bottom-up approach as well.
00:10:31
Speaker
So I think recognizing those four categories, and especially the smaller, medium-sized organizations, and then having two extra categories for standout recruitment and standout retention. So irrespective of what else you're doing, it's not about everything. But even if you're just focusing on that recruitment or retention piece, that's worthy of recognition. Going back to your journey in this, what
00:11:01
Speaker
What is it that gets you excited about being able to participate in things like this?
Personal Insights and Professional Authenticity
00:11:07
Speaker
I think it's, you know, my own experiences. Um, so my, so here's a fun fact. My full name is Shireya Abraham's beautiful name. If I do say so myself, um, but I go by Shay. Um, and the reason for that, the way that came about was I was just out of university and I was interviewing, um, a tons and I was getting rejected.
00:11:29
Speaker
left, right and centre, you know, more for them now, you know, look at me now. But anyway, so and I just was really feeling discouraged. But when I look back at what I was doing, I was not being myself at all. You know, I was going in very corporate suit, like shirt, tie, you know, just not how I dress at all, because I was trying to portray myself as professional because that was the image I had in my head. And then on one particular interview I went in and
00:11:55
Speaker
I just was so fed up of getting rejected. And I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna be myself. I'm fed up of this. I was tired of pretending. And they said, what's your name? How do I pronounce it? And I said, it's Shireya, but call me Shay. And that's what all my friends call me. That's what my family call me. And the minute that interviewer called me Shay, something inside me changed. I relaxed and I just, I aced that interview. I mean, I feel like before I even left the building, they asked me to, you know, ask me to take the job.
00:12:25
Speaker
So that sense of feeling myself, feeling as if I was included, being just who I am, started almost 10 years ago for me. And so it's always been with me. And so to have the opportunity to help others, because that's essentially what we're trying to do here, we're trying to make a change for other people, it's very rewarding. And I guess it's a bit of a selfish feeling because it makes me feel really good.
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's something that I reflect on when we're encouraging any group when we're doing events to make sure that there's diversity on the panels and people ask why or kind of, you know, you don't get people really overtly fighting it, but sometimes bristling against it a little bit. Hey, you know, I have these three great white guys that I wanted to have on the panel and now I'm going to have to
00:13:22
Speaker
make the panel more diverse because we have these goals and everything. And I think that understanding that empathy, that there's someone in the audience who seeing somebody who has had a similar lived experience or who looks like them or who they identify with in some way is so powerful in what I think of as sort of the really big picture here, which is changing the industry, not just changing the event.
00:13:48
Speaker
that if we're encouraging those people with our behaviors and our actions, that that's a lot more impactful than a poster on the wall. So, you know, again, I just, you know, kudos to you and the rest of the TPM team for that. I don't have a question in there, but I wanted to share that in our conversation here.
Diverse Representation and Privilege in Industry
00:14:07
Speaker
Well, I just want to add to that. So the reality is we always talk about, you know, it's about getting the right person for the job or the right person for the speaking opportunity.
00:14:17
Speaker
The reality is it's not person, singular. There's always multiple people that can do the same job, right? Always. This is a big world with a lot of talented people. So representation, it matters. It shouldn't be that we're only seeing the same faces when there's so many other options, right? And it's not a case of picking diversity for diversity's sake. It's that there's real talent out there, people that
00:14:44
Speaker
And part of this is there's a responsibility on us, and I say us as being a Black woman, as a diverse voice as you like, to have confidence and courage to accept opportunities. And I don't know if this gets talked about enough, because our programming team, for example, they go out to their wide range of network, and they're looking for the right person always. And sometimes,
00:15:13
Speaker
we approach people and they say, you know, I think my boss is, is probably better suited for this role. And it's like, don't let imposter syndrome hold you back. We're coming to you because we believe you're the right person. Accept it. If we believe it, you believe it. Right. And so I think that's also part of it to help change. Share that as a middle aged white dude who spends a lot of time on stages, it really, what it, what this is,
00:15:43
Speaker
I think almost a cliche amongst people who spend a lot of time in this space, but probably not for people who don't. That thought process of I'm not qualified to do that never entered my head when I first started presenting on panels once. Like it may have been like on the steps on the way up. I'm like, Oh my God, what am I going to talk about? But the idea that you would not take an opportunity because you thought you were under qualified for it is
00:16:12
Speaker
Certainly something that our culture puts on certain groups of people much more than others. Absolutely. I can kind of share the other side of that one, right? Is that, you know, it almost just to validate it, right? That that is 100% a disadvantage. And the more as I moved into management, you see it not just with speaking events, but also with volunteering for, you know, additional things at work or for asking for a promotion or asking for a raise.
00:16:43
Speaker
You know, that mentality, when you come from a place of a lot of privilege, you just don't have it, right? And it is, it's a superpower or a super weakness, depending on which side of it you're on, to not be willing to just go do things that you're not qualified to do, frankly. Yeah, absolutely. It's why people who look like me are able to fail up so often, frankly.
00:17:11
Speaker
You said it, you know, and that's important. That's actually an interesting thing about, you know, this is my first year participating in the committee and as somebody who is more of an is more of an ally. Right. That it's okay sometimes for us to talk about things like this. Right. And that, you know, not just in the confines of the committee, but also, you know,
00:17:38
Speaker
within the confines of VFN and then within the broader industry that, you know, these things are real and they're not, they're not a place of, you know, I'm certainly not at fault for how I was born or how I grew up any more than anyone else's. Right. But, you know, it's not, should not be threatening in my opinion to be able to have those conversations and, you know, talk about how to be a good ally in these things as well. So.
00:18:03
Speaker
And I guess with that, and we didn't prep for this question, so I apologize for putting you on the spot, but what are some of the behaviors that you can think of that people at the event can do to help make it more inclusive? If I'm going to TPM and just showing up on Sunday, what can I do to be helpful? I think it's just recognizing that there are people from all walks of life
00:18:33
Speaker
Right. And to approach every situation with open mind and open heart and respected and understanding people. Right. Because we don't always have the right answers. And I think that, you know, it's if somebody, for example, just going back to the drinking culture, if someone grabs a non-alcoholic option, like, don't shame them for that. Don't be like, you know, oh, so you're not drinking. Hey, you know, fun. Hey.
00:19:01
Speaker
Don't call them out for that. So these are behaviors that we automatically sometimes fall into and it's not coming from a bad place, but it might make someone feel a bit rubbish. So I think it's being mindful that we're all different and just accepting people every single day as we're at the event and we're socializing and we're networking with people. Be very mindful of our words because our words have a lot of power.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yeah, another thing that I think can be very intimidating at events that have a large executive presence, and I would say especially TPM, where it's a very frenetic environment. There's a lot of you have people running off to all of these side meetings, and you have the main sessions, and some of us will be there for eight or nine days with tech coming in beforehand and the like. It's a pretty intense experience if it's new.
00:20:02
Speaker
I know there's some opportunities, I know there's an orientation session that happens at the beginning of the show, but also I think a thing that we can think about for those of us who are veterans of the show is when you see people who maybe hear that it's their first time, mention some of the things that go on outside of the event that might be interesting to find or invite someone along, right?
00:20:29
Speaker
theoretically, all of the all of the after hours events have guest lists, and they're usually pretty loose if you're trying to to include someone who may not have been included because they're not in the the in crowd of a certain group or at a certain executive level. So I think there's a real opportunity for everyone who's going to the show, who is a show veteran to, you know, just make a little bit of an effort to make it a more welcoming space to people who haven't been
00:20:56
Speaker
Uh, you know, where, where my story doesn't start with, well, in the eighties, this is how we did it. Right. Which there's still a lot of that that goes on at Long Beach. So, um, what else, um, what else are you, uh, you guys working on, uh, with the committee for say future years or kind of what are, what are some of the big targets?
Generational Shifts in DEI Expectations
00:21:19
Speaker
You know, I think it is just recognizing that there's new waves of generations entering into industry is
00:21:26
Speaker
And they have their own demands, frankly, and requirements. You know, I speak to some young people through our Empower PRG and interns. And I'm telling you, I've spoken with people that say, I'm not working for a company that doesn't have, you know, diversity on its board. Like outright, I'm just, and it's in the forefront of their mind, right? I'm not working in a team where I'm the only person that looks like me.
00:21:53
Speaker
And so recognizing that the demands are coming from the future generations and therefore we need to act on that. We need to make sure that they feel comfortable. We need to save the times. So it's constantly being aware of what our attendees need. You know, I think access is also a really important focus for me.
00:22:15
Speaker
there's people with all different access requirements. And sometimes I have friends that go to events and, um, you know, they had, they're visually impaired or they, they have hearing difficulties and they just deal with it because it's something that they deal with on their day to day lives. Right. So when they go to an event, they just take it upon themselves to handle it and they don't voice it to the organizers and say, can I have this to help me or that to help me?
00:22:41
Speaker
Um, and so I think I want to make sure that when people come to our events that we're aware of any requirements that they have or any way that we can assist them and make their experience the best experience that they can have. Um, you know, we, we spend a lot of time, um, a lot of us spend a lot of time with our colleagues and coworkers and peers, and you want to make sure people are comfortable, um, and not struggling. So yeah, that those are some of the, my, you know, at the forefront of my mind to make the event feel more inclusive to people.
00:23:11
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think if people have to ask, you're not doing you're not you have an opportunity to go further. Right. You know, and, you know, I think there's things we talked about, you know, as far as things like creating quiet spaces for people who need who need to to decompress from the intensity of the show where we don't have any statistics that there's even a single person who needs that.
00:23:40
Speaker
when we decided to do it, but the idea that if you create that space and you publicize it and we talk about it, maybe somebody who was not going to register will register next year because they hear that that's available, right? Or, you know, same thing and go back to the alcohol thing, not to beat a dead horse with that, but hopefully next year people hear that and
00:24:06
Speaker
maybe come back to the show who would not have registered because they felt uncomfortable with those things. So being out there and doing things like this podcast, I think are important where we can talk about this stuff and get it out in the open so that it does feel like a more welcoming environment. And so the whole industry feels more welcoming, which gets me excited. Yeah. And I'm looking at, you know, also making sure that attendees have the opportunity to tell us what they need.
00:24:35
Speaker
Right. On an individual basis, what do you need? How can I help? Right. That's an important question. It's not leading. It doesn't go in any particular area. And I think that it's important for us to understand these requirements from our audience as it grows and it's the changes. I think it's really important that we remain open and accommodating
00:25:05
Speaker
for people because, yes, we're all doing a job. Yes, we're all in the industry, but we're human beings. We have needs. So, yeah, that's a big thing. There was a time in this industry which I think has passed where admitting that you were a human being would have been a sign of weakness. I certainly, when I joined this industry, admitting that you were human and that you needed to eat and sleep and take a break every once in a while would have been considered
00:25:33
Speaker
That's literally, if you said that out loud, they would say, OK, we'll take that person out of the executive track. So I think we've come a long way since then. Hopefully. And it also gets to that generational comment that you made about just a younger generation coming in. I'll just share that I got really frustrated yesterday. I was at a small event with a group of, you know, a small group of senior people
00:26:02
Speaker
you know, come for lunch yesterday and that we're talking about global economics and productivity and things. And they said, well, it's going to be a big drop in productivity because this younger generation doesn't want to work. And I almost lost it in the room. So the person was probably, I didn't really know the guy, but let's say he was in his fifties and I just wanted to like, just start screaming.
00:26:28
Speaker
Do you not remember the early 90s when everyone said that Gen X was lazy and all they wanted to do was wear flannel and listen to grunge music and nobody was going to do any work and we were going to be the least productive generation in history? And do we not remember in the 1960s when the World War II generation was saying that about all the hippies? I mean, these patterns are very, very simple and I think we all have to be aware that
00:26:56
Speaker
anyone 20 years younger than you just looks lazy because they haven't had your experience yet, but that that's not the case. So again, rant over, but I think it is a very prevalent thing in our industry with people jetting around the world and everything that this idea that whoever's working the loudest or the biggest is working the most productively is certainly a thing that's shifting between generations. Yeah.
00:27:25
Speaker
Smart are not harder. Smart are not harder. Should be the theme of TPM tech at least. What are you seeing that in the submissions that we get or just from your experience, what are some of the things that you think that we can celebrate or that we are going to celebrate it to show that the companies are doing well?
Transparency and Commitment in DEI Efforts
00:27:49
Speaker
You know, I think that companies were seeing more companies being transparent about data and metrics. And I think we saw that actually, you know, during the pandemic, there were pay equity reports being released.
00:28:03
Speaker
gender pay gap reports being released, diversity reports being released. Definitely not at the scale that we need it to be. But a start is better than a non-starter. But I want to see that continue to grow because even if your numbers are not great, just by being transparent, it shows another level of commitment. If you're going to say, this is how my company is at the moment performing,
00:28:33
Speaker
in terms of diversity and inclusion and equity. And those numbers aren't exactly where you want them to be. It takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot of commitment because if you're going to show that level of detail, you probably have a strong commitment to change it. So I'm excited to see how that grows. If it grows, I hope it does. I think the other thing as well is seeing a broader
00:29:03
Speaker
engagement of diversity, so not just focusing on gender and race, but all the different diverse groups that there are, you know, thinking about HBUs, veterans, I mean, there's just so many different types and areas that people or companies are focusing, the people in those companies are focusing on. And it's in carvagen, because it means that we really are thinking about inclusion as a holistic viewpoint, not just our own biases, right?
00:29:30
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. And that's a big topic for us, but probably a longer topic for another day as we're kind of getting up on time
Networking and Future Engagements
00:29:38
Speaker
here. So kind of where can people get in touch with you? How can they engage with you at the show? What's the best way to reach out or hear about what you're doing? So I'm on LinkedIn. So Shay Abrahams, just send me a message. Connect with me on LinkedIn. That's the fastest and quickest way to get hold of me. And at the event, you'll probably find me at the TPM Cafe.
00:30:00
Speaker
where I'm sure you'll be coming to have lots of your meetings. So I'll be on one of the desks there to just undergo big curly hair. So just come up to me, say hi, and we'll chat. We'll connect. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. It's been absolutely wonderful and looking forward to seeing you at the event. Yes. Caught me. Thanks, Brian. Thank you.
00:30:23
Speaker
Thanks so much to Shay for sharing everything about the committee and her journey and all of the hard work that's happening to make this industry more open and inclusive. If you are headed to TPM, make sure to come to check out the Chain.io booth at TPM Tech, which is the week before. And if you're at the main show, hit me up on LinkedIn or Shay or anybody from the Chain.io team will have a
00:30:50
Speaker
a big presence at both the TPM tech and TPM events. And stay tuned here. We have a whole slew of new episodes queued up. So you should be seeing a lot more popping up in whichever podcast stream you use. And I will talk to you next time.