Page 18 - BEQ Magazine Vol 4, Iss 4 (01032020 Final)_Active

RETHINKING CERTIFICATION
If the idea of holding supplier diversity to the same standards of accountability as
the rest of the enterprise wasn’t radical enough, Oswold’s suggestion that we rethink
the definition of “diverse suppliers” and the criteria to earn that certification was a
paradigm shift. Why, she posits, should diversity be limited to ownership? If we’re truly
interested in inclusion and the benefits that result, then shouldn’t we encourage di-
versity at all levels and throughout the enterprises of all our suppliers/partners. Why
are we limited to diverse-owned and controlled enterprises? Should we reward those
companies that are truly inclusive - from top to bottom - by prioritizing engagement
with them too?

BEQ PRIDE: We’ve touched upon this a little bit but what are some
challenges you see on the way to achieving business equality and,
again, looking out five or ten years, what do you see as, maybe
something you’re not dealing right now, but something you see
coming?

OSWOLD: I think one of the challenges certification in a way that’s not simply easy to
is we’ve got to continually look at the execute but is ensuring that we are realizing
certification process that we work through the desired outcome of an inclusive supply
with these member organizations just chain? By identifying and tracking these busi-
to make sure we stay current, to make nesses we can better measure the impact on
sure we’re identifying as diverse those the communities we want to engage.
businesses that are bringing value back That’s a piece of it that’s a challenge
into their communities. That’s where we because even among the hundreds of cor- BEQ PRIDE: Can you expand a little on what
get the biggest bang, that’s where we get porations who are members of the NMS- you mean when you said ‘up to date as far as
the uplift in underserved communities as DC, getting all of those folks to agree on on ownership and leadership’?
well as a great supplier. a change isn’t always easy. I think that’s
Things like ownership and leadership certainly a challenge we have ahead of us
guidelines, they’ve been pretty consistent for and I’m encouraged to say I’m seeing many OSWOLD: I’ll give you an example. At UPS we have
many years so I think challenging ourselves organizations trying to take that on. I don’t a diversity & inclusion-focused group within our legal
and the organizations to say ‘are we up to think we have all the answers yet, but I think department and there are conversations all the time that
date?’ In other words, are we looking at owner- people are recognizing that we have to work we want to make sure we have diversity in the legal firms
ship and leadership and the guidelines around together to look at that. that we engage, but what’s the best way in that industry
to look at diversity? Is it about ownership of a firm? That
would be the traditional way to look at it. Or is it about
partnership in the firm? What is the diversity makeup of
the partnership and is that a different set of guidelines on
certifications and traditional diverse business ownership?
Or is it about senior project leadership and billing hours?
You know the legal industry is unique and maybe there
needs to be a unique approach to ensure that we’re
encouraging diversity in that network and it may not be
the same standard as the manufacturing firm. These are
the conversations we need to have. I don’t know all the
answers, but I know there’s some opportunity there.

18 | Winter 2019/2020 businessequalitymagazine.com