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Diversity and Inclusion in CDW's business diversity objectives w/ Kristin Malek
16 Plays2 years ago
This week, for episode 17 of “The 3D Podcast” me, Cedric Chambers sits down with an awesome diversity leader and person, Kristin Malek. During this interview, Kristin shared his thoughts about How Diversity and Inclusion in CDW's business diversity objectives. This is a great episode packed with a ton of gems, so get your notepads ready as we dive deep and “Discuss the Dimensions of Diversity”.
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Transcript
00:00:03
Speaker
you
Podcast Mission: Transforming Diversity & Inclusion
00:00:10
Speaker
Hey, I'm Cedric Chambers, and I would like to welcome you to another episode of the 3D Podcast, a masterclass where we share with you everything you need to know about how to transform diversity and inclusion in your organization as well as in your community. We're on a mission to amplify the voices of leaders that are making an impact in the world today so that we can have a better tomorrow.
00:00:34
Speaker
Our goal every episode is to keep it simple, honest, and transparent with you by uncovering the truths in diversity and inclusion with the hope of creating behavioral change all while presenting it from a unique perspective. So look, if you're ready, get your notepad out, pour you a drink, and let's dive deep as we discuss the dimensions of diversity.
00:01:03
Speaker
Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the 3D Podcast where we speak to real practitioners that are making real change in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. I'm excited
Kristin Malik's Role & Achievements
00:01:12
Speaker
for our show today as we are speaking to none other than Kristin Malik. Kristin serves as the Director of Business Diversity at CDW. In this capacity, Kristin is responsible for CDW's $2 billion annual supply diversity spin initiatives and is the architect of CDW's diverse supply chain, which today is defined as more than 1,100-plus suppliers that serve the needs and offer solutions.
00:01:33
Speaker
to CDW and their customers. Outside of CDW, Kristin is a member of the National Minority Supply Diversity Council, as well as a board member of several organizations, a few of those being Women's Business Enterprise, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and TechScale. Kristin serves as an executive board member to a non-for-profit sheet tech in New York City, focusing on women and young girls participating in STEM.
00:01:57
Speaker
Under Kristin's leadership in 2020, CDW was inducted into the prestigious Big & Dollar Roundtable. And in 2021, Kristin was named one of the top 25 women in power impacting diversity by diversity professional editorial. And finally, Kristin has been named one of New York City's responsible 100 for her work in diversity and inclusion in New York City. I hope y'all see that Kristin is a rock star. So without further ado, let's jump into the discussion as we dive deep with Kristin Malik.
00:02:27
Speaker
So, Kristen, how are you doing today? I am so good. How are you? Oh, I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Look, I'm excited about having you on the show today. I can't wait to get into the topic and the discussion. But first, before we get into that, I would love for our viewers and our listeners just to get to know a little bit more about you. And I would love it if you could just take us through kind of your background and your journey as you navigate through your career, kind of how you got to where you are today.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah, I so appreciate the time today. I just really want to make sure that I thank you for creating opportunities for people to listen because it is when we listen, we can learn. And
The Importance of Supplier Diversity & Economic Recovery
00:03:06
Speaker
there is so much learning to be had and so many problems to be solved. And when we can learn in safe environments and consume at a pace that works for us.
00:03:17
Speaker
You know, I think we can get a lot done together. So I just want to thank you for the opportunity. I'm particularly glad, you know, to be here today. We're going to talk through supplier diversity. We're going to talk about economic recovery. We'll talk about, you know, hardship, but then, but really land on a promise of progress. And so if I reflect on, you know, progress and what perhaps the journey was for me to sit here today, you know, humbly with you.
00:03:45
Speaker
and with the authentic, grateful heart. I would tell you that prior to my work at CDW, I worked at another Fortune 500 organization for 20 years. And such legacy, right? You hear 20 years.
00:04:02
Speaker
And most people would, I assume, or what I've been told is, then why did you leave after 20 years? And so I loved the organization in which I was at. I grew up there right when I was 16. I was that kid when I was 16 that had to have three jobs in order to have gas money or if I wanted to go to college. So I worked at our local Six Flags.
00:04:23
Speaker
On the giant drop, I was like the right operator. Thumbs up. Everyone was safe. I worked at our other Fortune 500 organization. And then I waitressed as well at a local pancake restaurant here too. So I've always loved the hustle. And I've always loved to make money because for me, money was an enabler. It's how I was able to do things, get things. Of course, how I was able to have higher education.
00:04:52
Speaker
And so if I think back when I was 16 and I had these three jobs, and then the one that I actually stayed at for 20 years, right? From the moment I was 16, the internships, all of the roles, the relocations, I did work in Canada on international assignments, which I really, really enjoyed. I probably would still be there today if being, you know, really transparent because I really loved the organization so much. You know, 12 years ago, I became a mom to my daughter, Caitlin.
00:05:22
Speaker
And I'm
A Personal Journey: Navigating Career & Family
00:05:23
Speaker
at 28, so excited to start a family. And when the day Caitlin was born, a nurse had said to me, you have a baby girl and she has Down syndrome. And so there I was right at 28 and such almost conflict. And I think it's okay to say that.
00:05:45
Speaker
My first reaction wasn't really celebratory. I was pretty scared. It's pretty worried. Every book I read kind of didn't prepare me for that or the journey of motherhood. And I was trying to recall somebody with Down syndrome that I knew cause I hadn't yet met Caitlin. And I was like, okay, I'm trying to think of, I'm like, I don't know if I know anybody with Down syndrome. And so all of that flood,
00:06:11
Speaker
of emotion and I'm so grateful for all the therapists that I've had, all of the community groups, all of the mentors that have helped me through that. But in that moment and the months after, my obsession with being attached to the sales number at the organization I was that I loved really began to minimize. I loved it so much. I often tell this story that I loved EBITDA.
00:06:34
Speaker
Like I loved that number. I wanted my life to play to say it. I mean, I was like, I was it. I was like, how do we make money? How do we make it grow? And you gotta hit your number. And I was obsessed with EBITDA and obsessed with winning. And then Caitlin really changed everything for me because as I shopped and dined and went out into the community, I really did not see anybody that looked like Caitlin or my family.
00:07:04
Speaker
I was wondering, where is the Down syndrome community? Do they work? Do they go to school? I mean, that's how naive I was pushing the stroller. And I write, panic sets in. And so the shift of being obsessed with EBITDA that I had grown to love and appreciate for 20 years in that journey minimized. And then I became quite swiftly obsessed with understanding marginalized communities.
00:07:33
Speaker
And, you know, the fire in my heart for sure comes with the disability community because that's my family. But when you begin to put good intelligence around it and study it as much as I have, you know, the marginalization is so much bigger than all of us, right? We are still talking about women's issues, race issues. We're talking about so many issues and 2020 really imploded so much of that. And so, you know, my focus
00:08:01
Speaker
wasn't ever just the disability community. It was how do I have a career and do meaningful work and contribute in a meaningful way that still serves my family so that I can ensure I'm doing the best I can to contribute for Caitlin, but also continue to film and nourish my soul to do work that, you know, that would string success together, string impacting change together.
00:08:28
Speaker
and sustainable efforts. And so I began a career in supplier diversity, and that's where I am today.
00:08:38
Speaker
understand kind of a little bit of where you were, right? Because I've seen many parents go through that initial phase. My wife is a board certified behavior analyst, and she's been doing this probably for the last 12 to 15 years, heavily with Down syndrome, children autism. And because of that, I've been in it too, as well. And so as you see people go through that, you know, change, right? It opens up the eyes to really figure, understand like,
00:09:06
Speaker
Who is this community? What are the things, the support groups, the areas that we can really dig into to help? And you find out that, this is me just being on the other side, is that you find out that regardless of the actual situation, whether it be Down syndrome or autism, the children are smart.
00:09:27
Speaker
They're able to go out and do amazing things. It's an understanding of they're still like us. They may have some other elements, which we all do in some way, shape, or form, but they're still able to go out and do amazing things. I think just being around that community with my wife has allowed me to see just that regardless of what happens or whatever the element is, people can still go out and do amazing things. It's humbling to hear
00:09:56
Speaker
your story going through that. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you to your wife and her work and her team, because we really do need professionals. We need the next generation to want to get into that field of work. We need helpers. We need leaders. You know,
Future Generations: Inclusion Challenges & Public Entrepreneurship
00:10:12
Speaker
some people often ask me what generation kind of worries you, or they ask me what worries you most about Caitlin. And it's always the big three, I think, right? It's healthcare, it's education, employment.
00:10:24
Speaker
Right? She doesn't have the same access to health care as perhaps you and I. Education, right, is always filled with IEP meetings and accommodations, and I'm still looking for a college that might accept her in the U.S. But employment, right? I don't know. Anyone listening can reflect on when's the last time you saw somebody with a disability working and thriving in a meaningful job, right? Such a gap. But that's the journey.
00:10:53
Speaker
We're all on, we have to put people back to work. I know we're gonna dig into it, but to answer my question that I led with, what worries me the most is her current peer generation. When they say, what worries you most? And I say, it's her generation today, it's her peer group today because they will be her hiring managers. They will be the ones across the table when she's interviewing to have a job and seek employment, they'll be the ones. And so we have to have inclusion now in seventh grade, fourth grade.
00:11:24
Speaker
and make sure that they're part of the community throughout, not just when we're tackling the big three of employment, education. It is her peer group, but we need people like your wife and family to know that we need to assume potential. I can level all of us, not even just without syndrome or disability, but if we can assume potential and take that humility part of us is that
00:11:53
Speaker
Everybody builds on their own, you know, intelligence in their own way, in their own brand. So I'm a sore with your strength kind of a girl. Yeah. No, I love it. I love it. And so let me ask you this. And so, you know, going through your career and navigating just life and everything together,
00:12:14
Speaker
As you've grown and as you go into different roles and different things, what would you say are the one or two biggest things that you feel like, whether it was the situation with your daughter and just continuing to learn and grow through that, or whether it was how you approach work? What was one or two things you think were very, very helpful for you as you navigated through your career?
00:12:38
Speaker
I love this question. I will work really hard to stay on topic. I know you'll navigate me. You know, I think when you ask that some things floods my mind of, you know, I raise my kids and I lead my team with the kind of mantra of you can either be present or you can participate. Right. There's really just two ways to live life. You're either present or participating.
00:13:06
Speaker
And every day I'm going to participate. I will find a way to participate. And, and I encourage my two daughters, I encourage my team, like just participate, right? It's not enough, I think just to show up, but find a way to participate. It doesn't have to be big, right? You don't have to maybe sit on a podcast or launch your own, you know, such as yourself or, or, but there are ways to participate that still can compound lasting change.
00:13:35
Speaker
And so I think change is best done when it's ripple by ripple by ripple. You know, I'll tell you this though, to also answer your question of how I've navigated my career. You know, I, there's no, no secret. I think I led with it. I think money matters a lot, right? Money keeps stores open. Money helps us, you know, have housing. It helps us give back money, my salary and the money I make will ensure I can send my daughters to school.
00:14:03
Speaker
Take that away. I don't know how that would be possible because it costs money to do those things and have access to healthcare. So money matters. So I, I was a little bit drawn to entrepreneurship early on. I'm like, okay, right. I'm reading all those books on entrepreneurship. How do you make a million? How do you do all these things? And, and felt myself gravitating that way. But what I don't think we teach enough of is public entrepreneurship. There are so many public problems to solve for.
00:14:34
Speaker
that, that we need community help. We need next generation leaders. We need leaders like you and myself, but public entrepreneurship, you know, I think is something that probably isn't talked about enough. I think public entrepreneurship can probably really help us with our economic recovery today. So when I was leaning to what am I going to do? You know, next, cause I knew I couldn't, you know, chase EBITDA and I didn't want the license plate anymore.
00:15:01
Speaker
Am I going to start a business? Am I going to write a book for the disability community? I'm going to write new legislation for new moms who have a baby. All these thoughts, right? The best thing I could think of was, what are the problems I need to solve? If it's going back to employment, if it's going back to access to healthcare,
00:15:25
Speaker
you know, and education, those are public problems to solve. And so I feel like my role is really public entrepreneurship. I love it. I love it. You know, I, you know, we're getting into supply diversity today. And as we dive into that topic, I mean, a lot of the folks on the other end are entrepreneurs, right? Most, right. If not all right. And the struggles that they go through, I'm going to talk more about that. I mean, you know, but you know, it's, you know, having folks that are helping and helping folks grow and developing, you know, learn,
00:15:52
Speaker
as they navigate through that journey is much needed in the industry and in the space that we're in. So right now you're with CDW and you're leading the business diversity. And so my question is for you, when you think about CDW kind of just to kick things off here, when it comes to diversity and inclusion, kind of take us through like how does CDW look at diversity, equity and inclusion and kind of what are some of those things that you all are working on as y'all are going down your own journey?
CDW's Approach to Business Diversity
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah, I have been on the CDW team for about four years. And I'll tell you this, you know, not another bumper sticker, but I feel like I fall in love with CDW just about every other day, because we're innovating. We're so customer centric. Like we just follow the customer through the gore. And, you know, I think when the why is clear, the how is always present.
00:16:47
Speaker
I love it. I think we don't overcomplicate things, which I really love at CDW. The same for DEI and business diversity. Prior to September, the program that I lead at CDW was supplier diversity, which is probably really well known.
00:17:02
Speaker
You know, in our landscape, there's supplier diversity disciplines and certificates. You know, our CEO, Chris Lake, who is, you know, very much dialed into this program and, and had, I have great support from the top. She said, I think we need to change it to business diversity because all that we will hold ourselves accountable for moving forward. It's bigger than helping us supplier. It's that stakeholder capitalism. Right. We can't just focus on.
00:17:29
Speaker
For us, our program anchors, we can't just focus on the supply base. It's that whole, for us, clean tech. So where are we sourcing from? Where are you procuring from? How do they do business? What does their workforce look like? What are their labor practices? What is their community giving?
00:17:45
Speaker
you know, what is their governance? And so when we looked at it like that, it really just became, you know, business diversity. And so that probably speaks a little bit to, you know, where we, our journey at CDW, it's one that I get asked a lot too, have you had a pivot since 2020, right? In an economic downturn and, you know, all the civil unrest. And quite frankly, the answer was not a lot of pivoting in business diversity. We've been doing, we've been practicing, you know, equitable supply chains for 15 years.
00:18:16
Speaker
And so it's just the way that it's always been. Now, did we absolutely have to create more developmental programs for the supply chain? Absolutely. And so to further answer your question, our journey is to not just ever chase a spend number or have it be about how many dollars can we directly spend with MWBEs and not know what it's contributing to.
00:18:45
Speaker
I feel sometimes in this space we can really go after and target a spend number when I feel the best success can be around the multiplier effect. So there's no doubt, we said money matters and CDW is spending of the billions directly to minority and women owned suppliers every year. But men, men what? What is that money actually doing? Who is it helping?
00:19:15
Speaker
Word Job actually created when we were helping our suppliers grow. Were they able to open new locations, scale? Were they able to enhance their capacity? Those are the questions that I have to answer to. It's not a spend number or a spend target. It's what does the multiplier affect? And so that's the journey CDW has been on, continues to be on.
00:19:40
Speaker
My CEO once said to me, let's get 5% job growth in all our communities. So I was actually given a job growth goal. What a phenomenal goal to get. Be responsible to architect solutions that can create meaningful jobs. That's for business diversity.
00:20:04
Speaker
And it's not separate at CDW the way in which our diversity equity inclusion for our coworkers, our community, our partners, and our suppliers is really, you know, centric on how do we do good? How do we listen? How do we learn, you know, and teach along the way? And so, you know, I'm really proud of CDW's journey. We're learning all the time. We're leading. We're.
00:20:29
Speaker
or being actionable with really applied focus. And I'll tell you this, one thing too, we aren't about having intent statements over impact. We just about, we'll measure everything and measure everything, not to ring a bell for everything we do good, but measure to make sure that the focus is where it needs to be. And if not, you know, we can make a change.
00:20:50
Speaker
I love the why in the house statement, but even on top of that, when you think about the last year and a half, almost two years at this moment, there's been a lot of shifts and changes, right? Especially when you talk about minority owned businesses and just the number that went down and failed.
00:21:12
Speaker
during the pandemic. And when you think about the number, I saw some numbers that was upwards of 40%, especially when it came to black-owned businesses. But when you look before that and really dove into the numbers a little bit, you were seeing that, I think it was roughly about 2.6, 2.7 million black businesses, and then they had it around 2.6
00:21:35
Speaker
were just one
Support for Black-Owned Businesses & Education
00:21:36
Speaker
person with an average of $55,000 in revenue. And when I was listening to those numbers and I was thinking about it, whether they were exact or not, I could see it. But when I was thinking about those numbers, the question then becomes, what assistance are they getting?
00:21:53
Speaker
Because one thing to make money is another thing to know how to want to apply to your business and use it so that you can continue to grow the business and continue to be a, you know, whether it's a supplier to the company that you work with or even just get bigger contracts, right? Because in some cases, right, you can't get bigger contracts if you don't understand the mechanism that's needed to grow the business overall, right? And so when we think about.
00:22:18
Speaker
you know, what's happening today? Are you doing anything kind of directly with entrepreneurs that are helping them, you know, grow? And I would say this, you know, I spent, you know, almost 10 years in corporate right before this. And the company that I was with, Large Multinational, they, one thing they did that I thought was amazing was that they would invite suppliers and customers into leadership training.
00:22:45
Speaker
And they would do that because ultimately at the end of the day, if my customers are running their business good, they're continuing to buy product from us. We're continuing to thrive. And if our suppliers, those large tier ones and some of the smaller ones are running and operating in a more efficient way, we can then cut our costs right. And we can figure out how to make more better deals, better overall outcomes for both parties involved. So when it comes to just a business, are you doing anything specific that's helping entrepreneurs navigate through that space?
00:23:15
Speaker
We are, and you're absolutely right with your research. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published that study between February and April of 2020. The pandemic contributed to a closure of 41% of Black-owned businesses. That's a lot. 32, Latino-owned, 26 Asian, 17 for white-owned. Disparity is in the data. We talked about learning. We learned from people and data.
00:23:42
Speaker
unless somebody else has a third, I'm not sure where else, but you can learn from people and data, right? Those are the experiences that create this. And so, you know, that impact, you know, can't be lost on anyone, but I also agree with you and I will answer your question. We certainly can't be of the mindset or race to spend our way to justice. Right. And all of a sudden just move, spend and start procuring here and start doing this. I saw a lot of that rapid shift in 2020.
00:24:13
Speaker
And I think the same with some of the gaps in our workforce, but we're not going to hire our way to justice. We're not going to spend our way to justice. Right. That's not the call to action today, but the call is, you know, to link arms and develop, you know, solutions going forward. So yes, more than ensure that our suppliers are, you know, are making money.
00:24:34
Speaker
are participating in contracts and opportunities with CDW, we have to develop and give them resources, right? CDW, not small, not disadvantaged, right? So there's a responsibility and an accountability we have to the supply chain, right? And so we have coaching programs throughout the organization, but then, you know, really exciting on the brink of it, you know, this week,
00:25:00
Speaker
We're launching our mentorship protege program in New York City. You know, that's going to be such rich content, which we've invited our mentees, right? That have been named to the program. They're going to go through a series of curriculum from financial overview, organizational health, RFP, negotiating, contractual support or training. And then, you know, one of the topics is of their choice, right? We'll survey them and see what did they need.
00:25:29
Speaker
And so it is that balance of the diverse suppliers, the 41% of closures that we saw, those companies, some are of the belief I read and heard that they don't need mentors, they need customers, right? And so I think it's both. I think it's both. You need both, yes you do. So they can be a great customer to CDW and help us serve our customers and all that we do. But we absolutely, if they're going to be in our supply chain to be value added,
00:25:59
Speaker
We have to teach and coach along the way. So we have coaching programs throughout all of our locations, mentorship, protege programs, launching with QBR with so many of them. And I had the opportunity to start traveling in August of this year. And my first trip was to New York and I got in 10 supplier visits in three days. I was just so excited to meet them.
Mentorship & Equitable Supply Chains
00:26:23
Speaker
So it's really a hands-on approach that's really, I think,
00:26:26
Speaker
What I love about our program is it's about relationships, really. I sometimes hesitate to call it a program because we have such great relationships with the supply chain. When I talk internally at CDW, when I'm invited to team meetings or sales meetings, and I tell them that our spend in 2020 with diverse suppliers was at an organizational high.
00:26:52
Speaker
We didn't take a waiver or we didn't take a pass and say, gosh, the supply chain constraint is too hard. The margins are too great. We're not going to share. There was such high IT consumption across public private sector. But the sales team at CDW utilized our supply chain like never before in 2020. So that signals two things. I'm always looking for demand signals. And that signals to me is one, the supply chain was ready.
00:27:21
Speaker
for the challenge. So we have coach and mentored, you know, appropriately. And then two, you know, is that they showed up when we needed them. And that's because of the relationships that just doesn't happen. Yeah. I believe out of, you know, coincidence or out of a tryout or some social experiment. Right. We found the diverse supply chain and our CDW sales team harmonizing
00:27:48
Speaker
know, in a really special way that could be meaningful for our customers, community suppliers. Yeah, yeah. I'm loving the program. You know, I think about, you know, even, you know, growing, growing my business, right? You know, you always need money, right? That's one thing that you probably never not need at some point. But to a certain extent, right, sales can cure a lot of things.
00:28:10
Speaker
But when you think about growing, you think about efficiency, you think about how to manage money, how to where to put money, just all these different various different things that come along with running and growing a business. That's a lot more than just the money that's coming in, right?
00:28:27
Speaker
I think about having coaches you think about you know what's really needed for you to be able to compete at a different at the next level that is something to wear most entrepreneurs you know they don't have that guidance. Right it is a no to navigate through is like well.
00:28:43
Speaker
I want to do something to have the passion, so let me go and get it done. Versus there's so much more that you just don't know as an entrepreneur as you navigate through. So just listening to the program that you all are having is something that I haven't seen or I would say haven't been privy to see in a lot of other organizations when you think about really how are they trying to help their suppliers versus just trying to squeeze as much as they can out of them to make sure that their cost is low.
00:29:10
Speaker
to make sure that they're able to hit the margin of things that they have to hit for the organization. So let me ask you this, when you think about the program that you all are doing, and you said the team was ready for the challenge and you said they showed it up when they needed to, when you think about for organizations that are going down this journey, they either don't have a supply diversity program or their supply diversity program needs a major revamp.
00:29:40
Speaker
How can you help just kind of explain or walk us through like, how does doing this work?
00:29:50
Speaker
the direct value that is added to the business, right? And we think about the value to the shareholder value, and then you think about innovation. Can you make that tie? Because a lot of times when I see many people make cases, they're unable to have a convincing case, whether it be to leadership, whether it be to other people in the organization, of why we should be doing this, right? And so what is that kind of case, or what are some of those points
00:30:16
Speaker
that help tie in order for us to be X, like we have to do, you know, what is needed when it comes to supply diversity. I love this question because when I get asked this a lot in my peer group, right, the supply diversity leaders all kind of meet and talk and we're always, you know, mind sharing when we can. And so, you know, I am of the school of, you know, for a large organization, CDW included, like we have to talk about revenue enablement.
00:30:47
Speaker
Right. And so we can, you know, make sure that as far to receive programs, whether they sit, they most sit in procurement, some sit in finance, DEI, you know, let's not, you know, get caught up on where we sit. But I think the leader is responsible to ensure that it's revenue enabling. And you have to prove that out. Like you said, right, you have to make the tie. You can make business cases. Oh, if we do good, be good.
00:31:14
Speaker
Right. They will come kind of a thing. And so, you know, for me, where I land and when I have the opportunity to work with some of my peers who are teams of one maybe in their organization or small teams or trying to refresh the program. And one, I just want to say, I love when I get the chance to hear that, Oh, we're refreshing the program. Because as long as we're on a journey, that's growth.
00:31:41
Speaker
It's okay if your program launched yesterday and you were named to the program or if you've been doing this 15 years. I think 2020 was one of the greatest equalizers. It made everybody pause. The likes of CDW and some other tech peers that have had these programs for 20 plus years, there's no doubt all of us had a pause. Earlier, I said there wasn't a lot of pivots, but no doubt 2020 made everybody pause.
00:32:08
Speaker
rethink, peel back what you were going after. What does equitable really mean? What does participation mean? What is utilization mean? And so whether a program is 15 years, 20 years, two weeks old, one week old, it's an equalizer. We're all trying to understand how we can create economic recovery efforts. And so when an organization is looking to invest in supplier diversity, right, maybe build out the team or get the new tool, right, for data scrubs,
00:32:38
Speaker
Sometimes it's even organizations need to know who's diverse and who's not.
00:32:43
Speaker
Right. We're, we're not in the business of knowing who carries the certification. I certainly won't ever make that call. Right. Okay. You're, you are women owned. Right. No one else should do that either. Exactly. I mean, there's, there's organizations and vendors and companies that do that valid, you know, that work through that certification, but that costs money too. Those are expensive investments. And so, you know, what I think when I look at revenue enabling,
00:33:13
Speaker
One, it's organizations have always wanted to be where their customers are. And so we are asking customers or asking their clients, does an equitable supply chain have meaning to you? And if it's yes or no, I think that'll steer a conversation, but I think no one can negate the spending power of marginalized communities.
00:33:37
Speaker
I used to very offhand know the spending power for the disability community. Because that's my money. That's my family. I know my discretionary income can do to help. But the study was just done that the black community spending power was at 1.6 trillion.
00:34:00
Speaker
That's a lot of money, right? That's a lot of money. The prior diversity program, they can connect that to customers, right? When you connect that spending, that discretionary income, connect it to customer base, that equates to revenue. There's really not a lot of negotiation, right? When you have customers, you have revenue.
00:34:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Look, you can't. That's it. That's it. Let me ask you this question because a lot of things are going through my head right now because when you think through
00:34:37
Speaker
just the products that the communities use, not just Black, Hispanic communities, right? Asian communities. When you think about the products and services that they're using and you think about those companies who make those products and then how do they show up, right, in those communities, right? It's lopsided, right? You know, it's more people from that community buying than, you know, you can say that we have X amount of Hispanic or Black products on the shelves and our stores or, you know, or vendors, etc. And so,
00:35:06
Speaker
As you were going through 2020 and the organization, everybody was shifting.
00:35:14
Speaker
Businesses hit hard and you mentioned this in the beginning around the economic right hardship right in the impact When you think about now, you know, you're like the Phoenix, right? We've gone through those ashes now We're trying to you know be new and come through this right and so for those organizations that were lucky enough to survive and continue down the journey right of growing their business or at least getting back on the right foot of where they were before and
00:35:40
Speaker
how does that change how companies work with them? And one of the things that come to mind is, there's been a lot of great programs, SBA, economic disaster loans, you have other organizations who have stepped up and given grants and things like that. But so when you think about working with an organization as a supplier, this is one of my continuous battles that I have to fight today is,
00:36:05
Speaker
payment terms, right? We think about how suppliers are paid, and we think about, you know, as I'm navigating through, you know, if my organization is trying to come out of this, you know, pandemic, right, and I go into a situation with an organization.
00:36:18
Speaker
And I'm at the behold of like 90 plus day payment terms or in order for me to get paid early, I have to take a steep discount or something like that. It puts me at an even greater disadvantage in some cases, right? And so how do organizations need to adjust to be able to help coming out of this economic downturn? What are some of those things that they can do to help?
00:36:43
Speaker
businesses, definitely minority owned businesses come out of that even stronger. And how do they adjust the way that they do business, right? To be able to help in that process. We have had so much really transparent conversation at CDW at making sure, you know, what is our best effort to make sure that a diverse supply chain does not carry an AR too long, right?
00:37:07
Speaker
Because it just doesn't work. However you want to put the piece into the puzzle, it's not going to work, right? To have a diverse supplier, right, who needs that AR quicker to hold it longer than a CDW or another Fortune 200 organization. And so that has to happen internally, right? Those conversations as far diversity leaders, such as myself, have to be able to, you know, get the influence of the finance, the credit team, who's making those decisions.
00:37:36
Speaker
and really laying it out of what it looks like, right? Payment terms, seven days, maximum of 15 days for anyone with a diverse certification. Now, some of it can be in organizations where they don't maybe have their suppliers scrubbed like that, right? In our very emerging supplier diversity programs, right? They just have all the suppliers maybe in one database or maybe in Excel, right? Whatever it's going to be. So the first thing is, right, we have to flag them and make the financial management system
00:38:05
Speaker
you know, make sure that they're designated that way so that then our credit and finance teams, you know, can, can shift onto the AR, but there has to be deliberate conversation around it. And really what's at stake, right? We either can be a solution, you know, to make sure another 41% don't close or we're going to let it happen again. And so it's, that's the choice. I don't see a lot of gray in it. You know, those are the conversations that I had
00:38:35
Speaker
at
Enhancing Supplier Diversity: Key Strategies
00:38:36
Speaker
CDW, but we're constantly looking at AR and who's carrying it longer. And it certainly shouldn't be the diverse supplier in that chain, right? Because they need that money to keep growing, building, paying. So I'm glad you brought that up. But it is something that if organizations are looking to do something, right, whether a call to action was given from stakeholders or a board, what are you doing for DEI? What are you doing for supplier diversity?
00:39:03
Speaker
If that pressure or that demand is present, I think the two things spire diversity leaders can do, right, to get into the win column is one, work on your AR terms, right? That's helpful. That's meaningful. Two, for another catalog activity is start tracking your tier two reporting. And so starting a tier two program and analyzing your AR,
00:39:30
Speaker
You know, are the advice or suggestions that I give for emerging supplier diversity programs on their journey to, to get to some catalog activity, get some wins in this year. Right. For your organization. Cause the tier two reporting, you know, I think is perhaps, you know, undervalued. I think the March shorts tier one is so great and so loud, you know, tier one. And we know we have organizations like the billion dollar round table.
00:40:00
Speaker
My CDW is part of that, but if we peel that back too, it's a direct spend of a billion dollars. I also think tier two spend is just as meaningful. If I have one of my suppliers and I'm like, okay, whether I pay you or a customer pays you half a million dollars, the dollar doesn't change from who hands it to them.
00:40:24
Speaker
So tier two is just as valuable, but there's been this march towards tier one for so long that sometimes we count out tier two. So I think I'm always encouraging to develop a tier two program because that can make economic empowerment. That can create a multiplier effect. Tier two can be very powerful. We just kind of talked about it a little more. We were more helpful and we recognized it.
00:40:51
Speaker
And just so our listeners are understanding here, can you just give a clear definition of tier one and tier two? So they just know as they're thinking about that. So when we're talking about spend and it's direct or indirect. So if CDW pays our women-owned supplier, that's direct spend, that's tier one. So we would get tier one credit. I would be able to put that spend in our BDR column when we have to get to a billion.
00:41:21
Speaker
Now, if CDW works with a supplier, a tech data, right? Not small, not diverse. And then they pay the women-owned business. That's tier two, because we didn't directly pay. So you follow the money, direct or indirect, one or two. And organizations have sometimes built metrics around just tier one.
00:41:47
Speaker
but tier two is just as meaningful because there's still inclusion in the supply chain. That's what we're looking for, inclusion, opportunity to compete. Yeah.
00:42:00
Speaker
Yeah, I know. I love it. And eventually this, when it comes to the businesses that you all work with, do you all do anything around like how they are doing, what they're doing around inclusion, around, you know, cause a lot of times those suppliers have suppliers have suppliers, right? And that supply chain down the line, right? So like, how are you looking at those companies, right? Because you can, you know, they're there. I want to make sure that
00:42:25
Speaker
It doesn't just stop with you are right? But you're looking at those large suppliers and how they're actually impacting the entire system. Yeah, it can't stop one or this will all of the learnings, all of you know, the closures, all of it and the rebuild will have meant nothing if it stops with just one. And so absolutely, we're so partner centric, right? Our CW in technology space, all of our partners. So there are
00:42:52
Speaker
have been today and ongoing conversations of what is your posture and how do we link up? You know, I think some of our best roadmaps are sometimes just in front of us, but perhaps maybe ego or whatever it might be, prevents us from saying, how did you do that? And I lean into that, right? And so we can lean into each other. So, you know, some of CDW's partners, you know, have phenomenal sustainability, high diversity programs.
00:43:20
Speaker
that we absolutely are meeting with, talking with, of how do we just do it together? We've teamed up with quite a few partners this year. Intel comes to mind when CDW and Intel was really, really, really stay focused on the digital divide and equity and worked really hard to make sure that we were getting as many Chromebooks to as many students in underserved communities as we can. And so, but there is power and togetherness, but I think instead of being
00:43:47
Speaker
Siloed we have to just lean in and lift each other. No, I love it. I love it And so I know we get close to the end which I have like 20 more questions in my head right now And I'm trying to like, you know flip through and say which ones to ask which ones to ask And so when you think about you know, how do we take you know supply diversity beyond PR right and beyond marketing when we think about
00:44:14
Speaker
the leaders in your organization, right? And I'm just gonna think about my business, right? I don't think I've ever actually went a supply diversity leader or someone in procurement first, where I always went to a business leader, we figured out what it is that they needed. And then I went into, you know, procurement and sourcing and things of that nature.
00:44:33
Speaker
How are your leaders being held accountable as they're picking people to work with? How do we make sure that everyone across the board has some type of accountability through this process, knowing that they're picking those suppliers, or they're picking those consultants, or they're picking those people that are doing recruitment for their team, however it may be?
00:44:53
Speaker
and then they're sending them to procurement to get set up as a vendor and go through that process. But how do you hold those leaders accountable to make sure that they're being aware of what they should be looking for, what they should be doing as they're going through that process? The easy answer, and I'm never a fan of the easy button, but the easy answer would be what gets measured, gets managed, put it on a scorecard. We perhaps have our share of scorecards
00:45:20
Speaker
But I think in order for all of that to happen, the supplier diversity team, one, two, however the team is, my job is to remove those hurdles for the buyers, right? Two, who's gonna make those decisions of that they're vetted, that they have financial capability, that it's clean tech for us. So when we matrix out who they're subbing from, who they're doing business with, it all matches to what we're anchored on and we'll best serve our customer.
00:45:49
Speaker
We have to have a removal of hurdle process before we're just begging procurement buyers to make a change and do this and they're really good. It'll save cost savings here. We're beyond at a time right now today of what's just cost saving, what's easy button and how do we get to A to B and not look back. Those days I think are behind us. We have to be in the business of removing hurdles for each other of what would make that hard. How can we make that
00:46:19
Speaker
you know, a sliver easier for you, right?
00:46:24
Speaker
I get it. I get it. I love it. Actually, so for those listening to the call, practitioners, people in the organization that might not have a supply diversity program, but they're looking to do some of these activities and look at these things, what are the three actions right now that once they cut this podcast off, they sit back and they reflect and they say, what can I do tomorrow to at least get me on the right path? What are those three things that you think someone listening should be really focused on so that they can get on the right path moving forward?
00:46:54
Speaker
This is great. And gosh, on the spot, what I would say is for me, I would say it's, I kind of, I love things that I can cling onto three A's. So, you know, you get off the podcast. You're like, gosh, I want to get involved. I'm going to participate today. Right. And so the three A's to me are, what do you want to be accountable for? What are you aware of today? Right. And so once you know,
00:47:23
Speaker
that you're accountable, you're aware, and what are you available to do? Right? Because sometimes I think supplier diversity, or I've heard it right, are combined roles or a captainship or a developmental role. And that's okay. But I think to be able to, to write down or catalog down, what are you going to be accountable for supplier diversity? Is it going to be spend? Is it going to be utilization? Is it going to be that we're going to launch tier two?
00:47:51
Speaker
Whatever it might be, just pick something and hold yourself accountable for it. Maybe you're going to read one article a week on supply chain and equitable circumstance. Then you're going to make yourself just aware of the environment. And then what are you available to give? Because we certainly can't be overstretched more than we are today.
00:48:13
Speaker
No, I love it, I love it. And that's easy to remember, accountable, aware, available. Look, that's simple. That's simple, not gonna make it happen for everybody who's listening. You know, this has been a great conversation just to cap it off. When people think about Kristen, right? And they're thinking back and you're looking at your legacy. Like what is it that you want folks to remember you by? If you had to just have one short 25 words or less, if I go ask anybody about you, this is what they would say. What's that impact and what's that legacy that you hope to lead?
00:48:43
Speaker
Oh my gosh. 25 words or less. Obviously I'm a lover of chatting and maybe time management is on my op column, not in the way. Um, me too. I loved it. But you know, I think, um, not, I think I know, you know, I can answer this really clearly. One, I think it's integrity in all that I do, whether I'm working with a friend, a mom,
00:49:10
Speaker
a coach, a softball coach, I'm going to always have integrity and I'm a giver. There's no doubt, right? Contribute, participate, but then also I forgive too. Have great ability to forgive and take it as a lesson. And I think just, you know, my, the last thing if I were to say is, is just be really responsible with yourself and others. You know, I think we have to take care of ourselves,
00:49:38
Speaker
and take care of each other and whatever that looks like, don't have it be the opposite of not taking care of each other. Yeah. No, I love it. I love it. Well, look, this has been an amazing, amazing conversation. Before we go, do you have any, you know, parting words, any shout outs and then where can people find you if they're looking to kind of go and connect with you and, you know, learn more about kind of your thoughts around, you know, this process or other programs? Oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much. You know, I would just say,
00:50:07
Speaker
reach out to me. I am a serial social poster. I think I post every day on all platforms and I check all my messages and I love to reply back and I would love to exchange stories. And so, you know, I am, I'm here to learn here to lead, you know, and support. And so when you can wear all three hats, only good things can happen. And so anyway, excited to connect with so many people and really love today.
00:50:36
Speaker
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well look, that does it for us. Thank you everyone for joining us on another episode of the 3D Podcast. This has been Cedric and you've been listening to Kristen, Director of Business Diversity at CDW. Thanks, Kristen. Take care. Bye.
00:50:50
Speaker
Awesome, well that does it for us. Thank you for joining us on another episode of the 3D Podcast. If you would like to connect on social media, follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook at Cedric and Powers. And if you have any questions you'd like me to read or answer on the show, or just wanna know more about my thoughts around diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, or just overall business, you can text me. Yes, I said text me at 770-285-0404.
00:51:19
Speaker
You'll receive content straight to your phone on a regular basis and you can message back and forth with not a bot or an assistant. All responses come directly from me. But look, this has been a great episode until next week. This has been Cedric Chambers and you've been listening to the 3d podcast. We out.