How to Lead with Heart: Creating an Inclusive Workplace Culture with Nedra Dickson

Speaker A: 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.

Speaker B: I'm.

Speaker A: I am Betsy Cerulo, your host. And welcome to my guest today, Nedra Dixon, 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 in 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, particular 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, WBENC disabilityin, and various minority supplier counsel organizations. So today we are talking about legacy. What does it mean and why it's important. So pull up a chair, enjoy your favorite beverage, and let's get started. Nedra, welcome. Welcome.

Speaker B: Thank you, Betsy. This is, it's an honor. To be here to talk with you is going to be great. So I'm ready to dive in. So thank you for having me.

Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. You know, we go back to, gosh, almost 10 years when, uh, 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, um, I'm so grateful and 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.

Speaker B: Wow. I mean, first of all, thank you. I think that's kind. But, you know, the thing that I'm learning is that a lot of work has been done, but there's so much more to be done.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And I think that fuels me is that, uh, 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. Like, 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.

Speaker A: Thank you, thank you. And you know, 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. And I would think, okay, this is horrible. So many people were getting feedback of just, you know, 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, you know, a lot of that too. I've learned from the legacy that you and some of your wonderful colleagues have. You know, you've laid the groundwork. So legacy, what does it mean for you?

Speaker B: Wow. I think legacy is, uh, 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. Mhm. And to me, a legacy means that you've laid some really good groundwork and really changing 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, anything, because we need each other. And I think the legacy I always think about, I want people to understand it's the power of collaboration.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And the power of paying it forward.

Speaker A: It is. And 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 primes? Of course we do. But what I see has happened is that a lot of us get into these extremely heartfelt and meaningful conversations that 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. And 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.

Speaker B: It really is. And that's such a good way to put it. And I tell everyone, thanks to entrepreneurs, um, 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. And that's why I think everyone, when I look at the political scene, and as much as I don't want to look at it, I think about, 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 to where I can find these amazing businesses and try to collaborate and get work to create jobs in the community. Mhm. 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. Mhm. And this world is built on entrepreneurs.

Speaker A: It is, 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 that goes. It's universal.

Speaker B: It is. It is definitely universal. And what I've always loved about this space in supplier diversity is that there's no competition. There's. Every one of us corporates have a common denominator, and that's to find the right opportunity, 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, a KPMG and. 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, is what I love of this space. We all have the same goal.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And you know, when 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, but this is an opportunity for, for you to get to know the diverse companies out there so we can team. We're not trying to take business for anyone. We're trying to make these bigger, robust teams. And that means that supplier diversity is helping you find out where we are.

Speaker B: I probably hear that statement, I would say once a week. And accenture is 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 I tell everyone, if you think that carving out a small piece for a smaller diverse business is going to hurt the bottom line, then we're doing something wrong here. And again, it's finding the right gaps in the supply chain. It's not taking anything away, it's complimenting what we're doing. Mhm. And the innovation that's come with small businesses is such a great thing when it happens. And I'll give you the example in Accenture. Uh, we're in our FY25 now. We started September 1st. So in FY24 we acquired 44 companies and the majority of those companies were small or they were diverse owned. And so I tell people clearly they had something we wanted or we needed or were really great experts in, we purchased those companies.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And so I think everyone just hears the word small and they stop listening to everything else and they need to look at. 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.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And so my point now is to please go tell that to someone else on your team so that we can debunk the myth. Right, Right.

Speaker A: And, you know, 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. And, and I. And I really emphasize that to the up and coming because, you know, 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 of when there's a collaboration without having to get something in return. You know that. You know that book that's been out called the Go Giver, and it comes to, you know, 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 professional, we may. 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 WE bank event. Everybody was all everywhere. I guess there was a, uh, speaker where it seemed like these particular companies, that was the hot place to be. And Al's 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 is the crowd going or even to follow the money. You have to follow the conversation. I think that's more important.

Speaker B: M. Absolutely. I think following. And I think that's been lost the art of the conversation. And I think I also want to come back to my peers and supplier diversity. We also have an obligation to not just look at, uh, 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 why 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 um, where you can actually sit down and co create. You can come up with different other ways to do things. You know, 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 or plus to say, maybe have you thought of this?

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: 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. But. And I put a challenge out to ebay, to some of the new corporates that I talked to. And 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 outweigh sometimes the suppliers that come. So if we all took just one, imagine how we could change the economic landscape. And I put the challenge out to us too. Right. It's like we want to work with the usual suspects. Because. 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. And then I realized that's checking the box. Mhm. And we had to run a campaign because I'm like, I got to live by it if I want everybody else to live by it. And we called it greater than a checkbox. Mhm. Because checking the box of working with a small, diverse business is so much more. And we need to make sure everyone understands that.

Speaker A: Absolutely. And you know, I think the whole, when we talk about our legacy, we're constantly building on that. You know, when there's a, uh, part of supplier diversity, part of legacy is mentoring. And 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, looking to 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. Um, you know, when you go to conferences, always be mindful of what you say and how you act, because you're always leaving an impression. And you know, that all, to me, that all gets wrapped into. Okay, you opened the Door for me, Nidra, 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 involving on 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. And that's the part that I think we need to keep educating the small businesses. Everything you do is being paid attention to.

Speaker B: Absolutely everything. And I think that is a missed fact because. And it really is that six degrees of separation, you never know who knows who. Mhm. Because people talk. Mhm. And 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. And so it's always that everyone needs to be mindful. But then I want to take it a step further because we, I believe a legacy is definitely having mentors. And you're so right. And 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.

Speaker A: Awesome.

Speaker B: Um, is more. And Cheryl Harris being a mentor and you know, Ray Toomer 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.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And I think having that mentor to really help you get everything and give you that hard, you know, feedback and that criticism and, you know, 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.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: To really represent you well and be able to push those opportunities through for the people that might think, you know, we're taking money away, or you're too small and too risky, or, you know, you don't know what you're doing. And 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 powered and empowered me to do, but to pay that forward, but for 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.

Speaker A: Right. And, uh, this year is. This election is a tenuous election. And whomever gets in office, obviously Policies, things shift. And that's also to me, part of legacy because we as uh, 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. And 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. And you know, one of the things I notice and I really cherish about the, uh, relationships and supplier diversity is, you know, 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 an idea, a different idea at one of the conferences this summer and say, hey, you know, here's the staffing piece, but here's the other thing that we do. What do you think? What do you think about that? And a lot of the people that are 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 are also help me create, uh, strategy. So, you know, again, do I have a contract in hand? No. But the design of the strategy long term is far more valuable than that. Hey, I got an order for you in that moment. And that's what I want to teach people to in small business. Pay attention to the long term game.

Speaker B: That that's the perfect legacy is not the short term. Those are great and those are needed. Right. But then that long term is what you're leaving. That's where we want the business to be sustainable. We wanted to weather the unfortunate pandemics, we wanted to weather the geopolitical changes that come through. We want to make sure that that's a sustainable business to come through that. And I think that's so important that we see that. But I think that also plays the importance of allies.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Right. And I think, you know, I want an ally that's going to speak up for me being, uh, you know, a black woman, you know, 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? Mhm. 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? Mhm. 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. Mhm. And I think that's the important as well. And you said it. It's back to that art of conversation.

Speaker A: Mm.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: Because when I think about my experience with the, uh, the Accenture program, you know, I can recall. Let's see, I think I was in it in 2015 and one of the things we were looking at was, was anticipating changes down the road or you know, economical downturns or shifts because, you know, 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 we carry it out. But it was, you know, it was grabbing onto ideas that were different where I was afraid. And believe me, so many times as small business owners, we're fearful a lot. And 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, uh, maybe it's just no for now.

Speaker B: Exactly. And I think, and that's what I love about it. It's never a, it's never a, uh, no permanent. And if I can say one thing that most supplier diversity, you know, colleagues, what we, one of our things that we hate is we can't help everyone. Right. And it's like, and that's why I love the community of sharing and, and what few firms that I'm finding out do because there's so many mentoring programs now. And, and we even had to evolve our mentoring program because it's not about mentoring an, uh, entrepreneur. Right. And you definitely don't need to know anything about Entrepreneur 101. It's about what's going on in the market and what do we have that we can help them. But then it's also about trying to find those opportunities.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: 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 are needing, but how do we help you find those gaps M to 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? Mhm. It's like, why continue to add onto these numbers when we've got some great businesses that we've already developed? How do we go back to this alumni M and say, all right, now let's look and see where you are.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Because. And the reason we're doing that is because that's what we're seeing in the market.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And I'm loving it. Our clients are coming to us and saying, okay, Accenture, who have you developed? And we're like, oh, oh, uh, 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. 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 FY25. We have this great amount of suppliers that we know that we've never done work with M. But 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. Me too. Let's go to our alumni. Let's. Let's not just meet at a conference. We have a new office in D.C. that I just went to. Um, and so we're going to go, you know, 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. Mhm. 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.

Speaker A: 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 farthering their career. So we have to go back and do our best to 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, uh, going back a lot and looking at what you've already had, I think is a wonderful strategy. We tend to always, okay, well let's hear what do we need in this moment? Okay, let's go for these companies. No, let's find these resumes. And you just keep adding M might be losing on the gold that's already right here.

Speaker B: Absolutely. And that's. And, and my point around is large Accenture can lose that. And I felt like we lost it for a second and I'm glad we brought it back. And it was someone young that we brought in and they're like, well, you have this list of graduates. Have you went back to them? And we were all like, great idea. We see them, we see the things we're doing. Why don't we stop and leverage that? And so that's why I welcome and open to great feedback. Doesn't mean we weren't doing things great. It just means you have this list. And I give credit to our clients as well because, and you know, Accenture sells water to the ocean, so everybody's our client. And 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.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And so it all came full circle. And so I'm excited that that's one of our FY25 goals, is just to go to our alumni and really do now, like we see everybody, instead of just getting the emails, let's peel back the layers and see if we can, uh, 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. And I think that's going to be more important for us to really show that there is a gap and that's where we plug the gaps in the supply chain. And 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, there's diverse suppliers in that space. And I'm like, did you look? 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 FY25. That's awesome.

Speaker A: That's awesome. So Nitra, let me ask you this question. What advice would you give? It's a two prong question. How would you advise or mentor a, uh, 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?

Speaker B: Oh, great question. I think in both of those questions around legacy, if someone starting out networking is something that everyone taught me, but I never realized it, uh, how important it was for people to see you, 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 uh, 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 in, into their career, into their business, make yourself uncomfortable and get uncomfortable by listening. Mhm. 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 m. The new thing, I think continuing to learn, um, 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.

Speaker A: And you know, I find that I tell people show up and in a world, you know, our world has obviously changed after the pandemic. So we may not, you know, there may be more virtual meetings or what have you, but show up and. Yeah, and for those, those business owners out there who are more mature, I find that in different times because we all get burnt out. We all, you know, oh, I don't know. And uh, I find that I will light 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 much to you, then you got to take it all the way. And that's part of your legacy, too.

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

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

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: So I think this is, this is a perfect way that we have brought this to a close. Because, you know, 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. 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. So thank you so much for being here today. I really appreciate you.

Speaker B: Thank you for the opportunity. Always great when I see you, we huh, Hug, we smile. So it is my pleasure. Thank you very much.

Speaker A: Thank you, Nedra. Take care.

Speaker B: Bye bye.

Speaker A: Thank you for joining us. And if you enjoyed this episode, please follow Room at the Table on your favorite platform and share with a colleague or two or three. You can find the full transcripts, links and more resources to creating more equitable workplaces at Room atthetablepodcast.com. This has been a production of Twin Flame Studios.