Betsy Cerulo: Welcome to Room at the Table, an opportunity for you to join me, Betsy Cerulo and my guests for conversations about creating equitable and inclusive workplaces where leaders rise above mediocrity and our teams thrive. Pull up a chair, there's always Room at the Table. Welcome to another meaningful conversation on Room at the Table. I am Betsy Cerulo, your host. And welcome to my guest today, Nedra Dickson, the Managing Director of Global Supplier Inclusion and Sustainability with Accenture across 22 countries and is responsible for procurement operations across 30 European nations. Nedra is a global presence, having been honored abroad and in the US for her accomplishments and expanding the supplier diversity spend in Accenture, as well as educating the business community on how supplier diversity creates more opportunity for everyone. Nedra is the host of Diversity Rewired, which is a series that aims to redefine and clarify the concept of diversity, particularly in the context of supplier diversity. Nedra is an ally of all underserved communities and goes above and beyond to support LGBTQ businesses to reach our fullest potential. She serves, and has served, on the Board of Directors for NGLCC, WBANC, Disability: IN, and various minority supplier council organizations. So today we are talking about legacy, what it means and why it's important. So pull up a chair, enjoy your favorite beverage, and let's get started. Nedra, welcome, welcome.

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Nedra Dickson: Thank you, Betsy. It is an honor to be here to talk with you. It is gonna be great so I'm ready to dive in. So thank you for having me.

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Oh, absolutely. We go back to, gosh, almost 10 years when Accenture was so kind to invite me to the Diversity Supplier Program, and I learned so much. And we have just really grown together, I think, as women and leaders, and I'm so grateful. I speak for so many of my colleagues for all that you've done, the doors that you've opened. And girl, I don't know when you rest because you are everywhere and everyone gets it how awesome you are.

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Wow. I mean, first of all, thank you. I think that's kind. But the thing that I'm learning is that a lot of work has been done, but there's so much more to be done. And I think that feels to me that every time I think I'm like, okay, somebody's getting it, and then you're like, oh, there's someone over here that doesn't get it. And so it lets you know that it's a continuation. And that's what I think I had to come to terms with. It's not a project that you start and there's an end date. I think there's going to be this continuation of education and just sharing the good stuff. And I have to say for a second, Betsy, that's what I love about AdNet. I love getting your emails of the good things that's going on. I love that. With everything that's going on, that is a bright spot in the day when I receive an email, knowing that there's going to be some good news in there. So thank you for that. 

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Thank you. Thank you. And I think that kind of goes into part of legacy because the tidbits of joy came about during COVID when we were all still, in the early months, home. I would think, okay, this is horrible. So many people were getting feedback of, besides lost business opportunities, lost loved ones, challenges, mental health. So I would write those, I'd go into my office once a week after dinner and think, okay, what's good? And I'd start to put it out there and, a lot of that, too, I've learned from the legacy that you and some of your wonderful colleagues have laid the groundwork for. So, tell me about legacy. What does it mean for you?

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Wow, I think legacy is such a short word. It means so much. And it's a very special word that I don't think should ever be taken lightly. To me, a legacy means that you've laid some really good groundwork and really changed the economic status of the world, and that you truly created something inclusive, no matter what. We are all built differently. So I hope my legacy is that people will look at the fairness of everyone, regardless of backgrounds or business or location or anything, because we need each other. I think the legacy I always think about is I want people to understand it's the power of collaboration and the power of paying it forward.

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It is. One of the things I've noticed whenever we gather at events together is that, yes, do we all want the small businesses, do we want to do business with the large ones, of course we do. But what I see has happened is that a lot of us get into these extremely heartfelt and meaningful conversations. It's not about the money that we could make but it's really about the contribution, the greater good contribution that we can all make and that comes with women like you being so approachable. Your arms are always open. I've watched you at conferences. You make time for everyone. And no matter how many conversations you've had, you always make time to open up a door to an idea for collaboration. I could go down the list of some of your colleagues who we've all kind of intertwined together. We're all creating that legacy. And it's really beautiful.

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It really is. And that's such a good way to put it. I tell everyone, thanks to entrepreneurs, like yourself, is the reason we have a place to do that. And I think we need to understand and be really grateful that you have this mind that will allow you to be an entrepreneur. I think entrepreneurs and teachers are touched differently. I think you guys have a level of patience that I think is rare. And just knowing that if we can take that time to really get to know what you're offering, and it is for the greater good. That's why I think everyone, when I look at the political scene and, I just, as much as I don't want to look at it, I think everybody wants to talk about economic impact. And I'm like, it's right here. We have all these entrepreneurs, how do we find the right opportunity to help them grow? Because you're creating jobs in those communities. And that to me is a part of what my role is. I'm like, how awesome that I have a role where I can find these amazing businesses and try to collaborate and get work to create jobs in the community. That, to me, is something, every day, I sometimes have to tell myself, I get paid to do this, because that's amazing. You're doing the heavy lifting because you're an entrepreneur. And this world is built on entrepreneurs. 

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It is. On small businesses, on people from other countries, and you see it when you're traveling around the world to the organizations that you represent. You see that same fire, whether it's in the United States, or it's in any other country, or even some of the third world countries that you've gone to. That fire, that spark, it's universal.

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It is, it's definitely universal. And what I've always loved about this space in supplier diversity is that there's no competition. Every one of us corporates have a common denominator, and that's to find the right opportunity to help the small and diverse businesses grow and integrate them in the supply chain. And I love that. If I find a great supplier, I can't leverage, I can call an EY, KPMG, and say, hey, here's one that might not fit with Accenture right now, but they're a great business, and I think they can fit what you have. So that, to me, is what I love about this space. We all have the same goal.

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Yeah, and I've heard many times about the pie, and I think sometimes in business, there are some people that have voiced, “Well, it's cutting away opportunities for me.” It's not. It's making the pie bigger, and one of the things that I communicate to my colleagues who are from non-diverse companies, whether it's large or small, I’d say, “But this is an opportunity for you to get to know the diverse companies out there so we can team.” We're not trying to take business from anyone. We're trying to make these bigger, robust teams, and that means that supplier diversity is helping you find out where we are.

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I probably hear that statement, I would say, once a week. Accenture has over 700,000 employees globally, and so I expect not everyone. And that's why I tell everybody, educating our internal stakeholders is a goal that never goes off my plate. And, and I tell everyone that if you think that carving out a small piece for a small diverse business is going to hurt the bottom line, then we're doing something wrong here. Again, it's finding the right gaps in the supply chain. It's not taking anything away. It's complimenting what we're doing. And the innovation that's come with small businesses is such a great thing when it happens. I'll give you an example in Accenture. We're in our FY 25 now. We started September 1. So in FY 24, we acquired 44 companies, and the majority of those companies were small, or they were diverse-owned. So I tell people, clearly, they had something we wanted, or we needed, or were really great experts. We purchase those companies. And so I think everyone just hears the word small, and they stop listening to everything else. They need to look. You didn't wake up one day and say, “Oh, I'm just going to start a business that I have no clue of what I'm doing. I'm just going to start a business.” And I'm like, that's not it. And so when I hear that question, and it comes from people, they're like, “Hey, well, if I give work to this diverse supplier, you're taking work away from me.” And I'm like, well, let's look at the data, look at the numbers and see. And then they have that thought, “Oh, I understand.” And so my point now is to please go tell that to someone else on your team, so that we can debunk the myth.

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Right, right. In the nature of the work AdNet’s done for many years, staff augmentation, it's no secret, there's a million of us out there. It's like there's a bar on every street. There's a staffing agency on every street. So when you know that your capability may not be exactly what that large prime means, you can still collaborate on bringing them referrals. You can collaborate on meaningful conversation that can help. I really emphasize that to the up and coming. I've been in business for 34 years, been around a long time, been knocked in the head quite a number of times. A lot comes out when there's a collaboration without having to get something in return. That book that's been now called the Go-Giver, and it comes to, pay it forward. I could go to all the things that we've heard over the years, but when small businesses can also hear from a supplier diversity profession, “We don't need that yet.” You can still see, well, how can you learn from this organization? So I remember when I first came to the program, Al was sitting at a table. Nobody was at his table at a WBENC event. Everybody was all everywhere, I guess there was a speaker where it seemed like these particular companies were the hot place to be. Al was sitting there by himself, and I'm like, I'm going to talk to him. And he invited me to the program, then introduced me to you and so on and so on. So you can't always go to where the crowd is going, or even follow the money. You have to follow the conversation. I think that's more important. 

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I think that's been lost, the art of the conversation. I think I also want to come back to my peers and supplier diversity. We also have an obligation to not just look at, if there's not an opportunity right in front of us, we're just done. And I can say that from experience. When I led procurement with Accenture, that's what I did. If the opportunity wasn't in front of me, I'm like, oh, I don't have an opportunity for you. And that's where I agree with you. I think the art of the conversation has been lost. When I decided to sit down and have conversations, I've learned so much. You can actually sit down and co-create. You can come up with different other ways to do things. And that's why I want to challenge my peers and more corporates to really sit down and look beyond the obvious opportunity that's not right in front of us because we can leverage the mind of someone that's been in business for 30 years plus to say, maybe, have you thought of this? Because we all need that feedback on, maybe I didn't think of it. Maybe you've seen something in the market that we haven't seen in this space and that is where that art of the conversation is so important. I put a challenge out to WBENC, to some of the new corporates that I talk to. I said, “What if we all focused on one supplier that we don't know and literally have that coffee or tea, have that real conversation, get a chance to meet their office, get a chance to see them, and follow that one?” If every corporation did that, we sometimes outweigh the suppliers that come, so if we all took just one, imagine how we could change the economic landscape. I put the challenge out to us too, right? We want to work with the usual suspects, and I'll say it because I was that person that got lazy, it's easy. They're diverse. I can go and do it. Then I realized, that's checking the box. We had to run a campaign because I'm like, I gotta live by it if I want everybody else to live by it. And we called it greater than a checkbox because checking the box of working with a small diverse business is so much more. We need to make sure everyone understands that. 

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Absolutely. I think, when we talk about our legacy, we're constantly building on that. Part of supplier diversity, part of legacy is mentoring. I know you and I both have had wonderful people on our paths that we've learned from and that have passed the torch to us. And we have to do that too, because people are looking at us. Well, what are they doing and how are they behaving? So, many times I tell the new companies that are starting, you can go out and you can have a really wonderful time when you go to conferences. Always be mindful of what you say and how you act, because you're always leaving an impression. To me, that all gets wrapped into, okay, you opened the door for me, Nedra, for me to get in the door. My job is for us, my company, our team, to stay in the door. And the way that we are not complacent as a supplier, we have to be constantly involved in what the trends are, what the needs are, nurturing the relationship, again. It may seem like, well, that's what you're supposed to do, but not everybody checks all the boxes of the service that it takes to have you stay in the door to create your legacy. That's the part that I think we need to keep educating the small businesses on. Everything you do is being paid attention to.

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Absolutely. Everything. I think that is a missed fact because it really is that six degrees of separation. You never know who knows who because people talk. We love it when, oh here's an amazing small business, you need to leverage them. Or, it will be no, we brought them in, they didn't do anything. So it's always that. Everyone needs to be mindful. But then, I want to take it step further because I believe a legacy is definitely having mentors. You're so right. I love that you mentioned Al. He moved to Atlanta, don't know if you know, so now I get a chance to still see him more, and Cheryl Harris being a mentor and Ray Tumor will always be in my heart, but we have what we call a sponsor as well. And that sponsor is someone that has that seat at the table that can really push for you when you're not in that room. And I think having that mentor to really help you get everything and give me that hard feedback and that criticism and to make sure that they're pushing you the right way to excel, then we also need someone to have that table when you're not there to really represent you well and be able to push those opportunities through for the people that might think, we're taking money away, or you're too small and too risky, or you don't know what you're doing. Those two together, to me, have been that secret success, and I want that to be a part of my legacy, not only taking what someone has empowered me to do, but to pay that forward, but also to speak up for those that don't have that seat at the table and really don't leave until I get it through.

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Right, and this election is a tenuous election, and whomever gets in office, obviously, policies and things shift. That's also, to me, part of legacy because we, as small businesses, have to go wherever legislative changes go. That's just it. Once there's a shift in legislation, we have to roll with it. There are times we may not like it, and there's times it may be in our favor. But it's important that whatever challenges that come, especially after an election, we still have an obligation and a responsibility to get all of us over that wall. One of the things I notice and I really cherish about the relationships in supplier diversity is, again, my company is known for doing staffing, staff augmentation, a roll your eyes kind of service when you go to a conference. And I laugh about it now because I totally get it. We pitched a different idea at one of the conferences this summer and said, hey, here's the staffing piece, but here's the other thing that we do. What do you think about that? And a lot of the people that you know said, “You know what, I never thought about it that way, that is a good way to initiate some other conversations.” So I find that in supplier diversity, the experts there also helped me create a strategy. Again, do I have a contract in hand? No. But the design of the strategy long-term is far more valuable than, “Hey, I got an order for you,” in that moment. And that's why I want to teach people in small business. Pay attention to the long-term game.

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That's the perfect legacy. Not the short-term. Those are great and those are needed. But then that long-term is what you're leaving. That's where we want the business to be sustainable. We want it to weather the unfortunate pandemics. We want it to weather the geopolitical changes that come through. We want to make sure that that's a sustainable business to come through. And I think that's so important that we see that. But I think that also plays the importance of allies. I think I want an ally that's going to speak up for me being a black woman over the age of 50. I want someone to speak up for me. So if I want someone to do that, how am I not going to be an ally for others? And so I think that is so important. And a part of the legacy is that who did you give a voice to that might not have a voice? And that could be for someone – because there's people that don't know. I always tell everyone, I don't mind you asking me questions, because I would rather tell you and educate you in a respectful way than for you to go and learn something incorrect on your own. And I think that's important as well. And you said it. It's back to that art of conversation. 

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When I think about my experience with the Accenture program, I can recall, I think I was in it in 2015, and one of the things we were looking at was anticipating changes down the road or economic downturns or shifts because, 2015, we're going into an election year the following year. How can I make my company more recession proof? How can we diversify? And I took those ideas and I ran with those. Now, I didn't do it myself. I have an amazing team that carries it out, but it was grabbing on to ideas that were different and where I was afraid, and believe me, so many times, as small business owners, we're fearful a lot. We have to learn how to change that fear into opportunity, into gratitude. Because, you know so many of us, we are so tenacious. To me, no means maybe it's just no for now.

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Exactly. That's what I love about it. It's never a no permanent. And if I can say one thing that most supplier diversity colleagues, one of our things that we hate is we can't help everyone. That's why I love the community of sharing. What few firms that I'm finding out do, because there's so many mentoring programs now, and we even had to evolve our mentoring program because it's not about mentoring an entrepreneur, right? You definitely don't need to know anything about entrepreneur one-on-one. It's about what's going on in the market and what we have that we can help them with. And it's also about trying to find those opportunities. So that was the shift that we had to do. So I love it. It's always going to be a moving target. It's like, yes, at one point, we're like, oh, we're going to take every company and we're going to take anybody that wants to raise their hand to be a mentor. That might have been great in the beginning, but that's not going to be sustainable as you're talking about. We've got to make sure that, yes, we're finding the things that the market is needing. But how do we help you find those gaps and actually get that work? So one of the things that we've done is we're not having another US class right now, because we want to take our alumni. We're like, here are companies, and let's take the time to go look at those alumni and say, hey, you took the time to be a part of this program. What is it that we can now do to really help you fill in some of these other gaps? It's like, why continue to add on to these numbers when we’ve got some great businesses that we've already developed. How do we go back to this alumni and say, all right, now let's look and see where you are. The reason we're doing that is because that's what we're seeing in the market. And I'm loving it, our clients are coming to us and saying, okay, Accenture, who have you developed? And we're like, we have a list. But then we have to come back to ourselves and say, have we even gone back to that list, right? So as you're saying, small and diverse businesses really need to shift, the same with us corporates. We need to look within ourselves and say, you know what, we might need to do a little pivot as well. So I love it when we're challenged that way. And so that's what we're looking at in FY 25. Like we have this great amount of suppliers that we know that we've never done work with. We know them, we see them. Maybe it's our time to take that step further. So I'm excited because that's what we're doing next. 

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Me too.

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Let's go to our alumni, let's not just meet at a conference. We have a new office in DC that I just went to and so we're going to go city by city and say come in, let's sit down, let's whiteboard it out and see where you are because I think we're missing out on some great innovation and some great opportunities. So, I put that out to all our supplier diversity people. Yes, we want the new ones, but let's look at those that we know and let's go back and see how we can co-create.

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I think that's wonderful and that is also a similar strategy that we have to do in our business because, with hiring, it's always an ongoing challenge. But, someone who may not have been qualified two years ago is now two years farther in their career. So, we have to go back and do our best at keeping in touch with candidates like that who we may not have that need right now, but you start to build the pool, if you will. So, going back a lot and looking at what you've already had, I think, is a wonderful strategy. We tend to always say, “Okay, well let's hear it. What do we need at this moment? Let's go for these companies. No, let's find these resumes,” and you just keep adding. You might be losing on the gold that's already right here.

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Absolutely, and that's my point. The large Accenture can lose that and I felt like we lost it for a second. I'm glad we brought it back and it was someone young that we brought in. They're like, “Well, you have this list of graduates. Have you gone back to them?” We were all like, “Hmm, great idea.” We see them. We see the things we're doing. Why don't we stop and leverage that? So that's why I welcome and open to great feedback. It doesn't mean we weren't doing things great. It just means you have this list. I give credit to our clients as well because Accenture sells water to the ocean so everybody is our client. For them just saying, “Hey, we know you have amazing suppliers you develop. Do you mind if we have that list and for you to reach out to them?” And we're like, yes. And so it all came full circle. So I'm excited that one of our FY 25 goals is just to go to our alumni. 

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Me too.

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Now, we see everybody. Instead of just getting the emails, let's peel back the layers and see if we can plug those gaps. And why I think that's important with this political climate is because I think it's now going to be even more important to really show the greatness that small and diverse suppliers play in this economy, that there's no way this economy can survive without you. I think that's going to be more important for us to really show that there's a gap. And that's where we plug the gaps in the supply chain. I think that's why it's so important for us, because I get so many people that will say, “Oh, there's no small business or diverse suppliers in that space.” I'm like, did you look? And so now I'm like, I'm going to help them. We're going to make sure that they know. So I'm excited about our FY 25.

 

That’s awesome. So, Nedra, let me ask you this question. What advice would you give? It’s this two pronged question? How would you advise or mentor a new business owner about legacy? They could be young in their career, whatever. And then those who are more mature with more mature businesses, mature leaders, who might be feeling a little complacent. How would you light up legacy in both of those groups?

 

Oh, great question. I think, both of those questions around legacy, if someone's starting out, networking is something that everyone taught me, but I never realized how important it was for people to see you and have an authentic conversation. And that authentic conversation might not happen. Maybe 20 conversations down the line. But it's really listening and being able to have a conversation. That, to me, is a legacy. And I want to be able to listen because I've learned so much just by listening to people. And putting myself out there in very uncomfortable situations is what needs to be done. So I would say networking and listening for someone that's new coming into their career, into their business, make yourself uncomfortable and get uncomfortable by listening. And when you're ready, engage in that conversation. For a company that might be out there and they're just trying to get complacent, learning. I continue to learn. I love that about Accenture, and the reason I've been here for 23 years is that I'm constantly learning. So I'm now learning all the great things about Gen AI, and AI has always been around, but the new things. I think continuing to learn is something that I would tell someone not to be complacent, and to expand their network, because I think someone that's there has a great network, but to expand that network is amazing.

 

I find that I tell people to show up. Our world has obviously changed after the pandemic so there may be more virtual meetings or what have you, but show up. For those business owners out there who are more mature, I find that in different times, because we all get burnt out, we all, oh, I don't know, I find that I will continuously feed the flame of my legacy when I look at bodies of work that really matter to me or someone on my staff. It pushes me to think differently on how to ask the questions and how to pursue the business. But it also adds to whatever legacy I want to create. And everybody's legacy is different. So if someone comes to you and starts having a conversation, never shoot them down. Like you said, I listen, I ask questions. And if someone has a dream, and I've always said, if it means that that much to you, then you've got to take it all the way. And that's part of your legacy too. 

 

Absolutely. And I say that at every conference. If someone spends their money, leaves their family, spends their time, and they stand in line to talk to me, I'm going to talk to you because that's a level of respect. I think I want that as a part of my legacy, respecting the individual. I think that is so important. I want to say the world is gonna get better. I have to be that positive.

 

It is because you put out that kind of energy, eventually you see that shift. Without a doubt. 

 

Absolutely. 

 

So I think this is a perfect way that we have brought this to a close because legacy is for everyone, and it's about listening, it's about showing up, it's about so many things. But I want our listeners to really get it, that you can create your legacy or recreate it at any time any time. So Nedra, thank you so much for this conversation. I look forward to our continual learning together and I can't wait to listen to your next podcast on diversity. Thank you so much for being here today. I really appreciate you. 

 

Thank you for the opportunity. Always great when I see you. We hug, we smile. So it is my pleasure. Thank you very much. 

 

Thank you, Nedra. Take care.

 

Bye bye.