Leveraging Diversity for Strategic Advantage in Small Defense Businesses

Discover the competitive edge that diversity brings to small businesses in the defense sector as we unpack how agility and inclusivity can transform recruitment and problem-solving strategies. Our latest episode is a deep dive into the heart of innovation, showcasing how companies can harness the power of different perspectives to outmaneuver bigger, slower competitors. With insights from industry experts, we reveal the immediate benefits of less bureaucracy and how diverse teams not only challenge the status quo but also steer businesses toward comprehensive, strategic growth.

Then, join us as we shift focus to the cultural impact of diversity within the workplace. Our discussion takes you through the creative advantages of having a varied workforce, comparing the U.S. to more homogenous nations and emphasizing our unique position in the global market. Our guest experts share actionable strategies for small business owners to foster a truly inclusive environment where every voice is heard and valued. By integrating a wealth of experiences into their decision-making processes, you'll hear firsthand how top companies are thriving and how these practices can be applied to elevate your own business.

• Hosted by: Terrell Cummings & Devon Florczak
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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:18

Hello and welcome back to the Country Intelligence Report. We are hosts Spencer Bentley to Wellcomings and Devon Floresack. Today we will be discussing how businesses can embrace diversity and leverage it as a strategic advantage. And, since we are in the defense sector, we'll focus on how defense contractors can utilize different forms of diversity to really help build strategic advantages within their company, as well as strategic advantages they can leverage for the service of their clients. And we'll just dive right into it. I'll pose this question to the team here how can small businesses leverage their size and agility to create a more inclusive recruitment process and what are the immediate benefits of doing so in the context of the defense industry? So we'll take that in two parts. How can small businesses leverage their size and agility to create a more inclusive recruitment process? What are your thoughts on that, fellas?

Speaker 2: 1:25

I can try to jump in on that one. Obviously, if you're a small business, there's probably also less restrictions, but I thought you could interview whoever you want and whoever you want to bring in as far as everything. And I think a lot of times, especially with our company, I think we try to find the best people available, the best people for their position, regardless of gender, ethnicity or whatever that may be, if they're qualified for position or qualified for position, and that's what we're looking for most of all. I think some companies, they try to do some other things, whether it's a male dominant industry or certain ethnicities or whatever, trying to keep certain ethnicities out of it. But I think that's one thing that our company has been pretty good at just in general, just by finding top talent and finding good talent, regardless of male, female, their ethnicity or whatever it may be, and so I think that's good.

Speaker 2: 2:27

And obviously they have varying backgrounds as well and I don't necessarily want everybody being capable of doing the exact same things that we want to have, or roomful people, especially with their leadership, roomful people that have diverse backgrounds, different points of views, different perspectives. I think people on our team, I think they're, yes, people Also just because our manager or director says something, there's not going to be guys that necessarily combat that or give a different point of view or be played devil's advocate if necessary in that situation. And I think that's good for the company as well, because I always be more well-rounded, I always look things for most other perspectives winners out there. I think it's a good thing. I think we can take those varying points of views, various backgrounds, utilize those where we are going to get More business or other business or whether that may be. I think that just benefits us as a whole.

Speaker 1: 3:24

As the company.

Speaker 1: 3:25

Yeah, I definitely agree with that and you know, I think one of the strengths of the small business is, you know, sort of less bureaucracy, less red tape, more immediate decision-making, which can, I think, really work in favor of building out a really dynamic team, because you don't have to put you know potential candidates through you know four or five different filters with you know HR execs, or or you know recruiting personnel, hr execs, you know Middle management and final management all having a say and who's going to come on board.

Speaker 1: 4:10

It's really, you know, with a small business, you have the, the, the primary decision-maker, and if they think it's a good fit, then they can just plug them in and you know that's, I think, how country Intel has been so successful in recruiting such a broader way, like you said, tarell of areas of expertise, which has really benefited us and allowed us to grow and become much more Agile and dynamic than a lot of our larger competitors. Because I think what happens is, you know, as as companies get larger, they start sort of Looking for a certain mold of a person, of you know, certain set of skills that fits, you know what has worked in the past and there's some validity. It's about approach. But you also, over time, I think, I think, get get pretty stagnant and and you may get, you know, pretty set in your, in your ways and and not allow for a lot, of, a lot of differing viewpoints on how to solve a problem. So, yeah, I think, I think that's definitely an advantage of small businesses. That should should definitely be left here.

Speaker 3: 5:27

Yeah, and you both sort of alluded to being agile and you know just the amount of agility that being a small business, you know, allows us to Sort of work with when we're recruiting and hiring for positions. You know, not only is our process, and you know, pretty quick on getting to a decision, but you know our ability to sort of, you know, go through, you know, multiple interviews a day and and essentially we reach, you know, a larger pool of applicants. You know, if you know for able to, you know, interview a ton of people for a position. You know that I think that just you know gives us the ability to, you know, seek a wider pool of applicants and reach a more, you know, diverse applicant pool. So I think that's definitely an advantage.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Yeah, yeah, yep, that is. It's something that's you know you need to, to the size of our company and Also the skill set that's necessary within Defense contracting. You have the ability to pull from some non-traditional backgrounds and leverage their, their skills that they may have accumulated over time To become sort of a jack of all trades, which I think is is only for the better in terms of small businesses. We're being competitive and you know, and to that point, you know how do we think diversity Can, can help a small business. You know, and you know this is a diversity such a, I think, a loaded term but it really is a strength. I mean it's, it's one of the noted strengths of our, the country that we live in, america, is diversity. But you know, specifically for small businesses, you know how can you know diversity Impact things like innovation or improve problem solving or just generally give a competitive edge To, you know, to government contractors or small businesses in general.

Speaker 2: 7:36

I don't definitely say something.

Speaker 2: 7:38

I also say like for us, you know specifically, you know we do have our internship program and I think that's no beneficial.

Speaker 2: 7:44

You know, as far as helping with diversity, because I think having different generations within the company helps us, you know, helps us stay current on different things that you guys, like I'll say, like Devin, you specifically, spencer, you guys are more in tune with. You know the technology is going on. I say I'm not in tune with it, but as far as like AI and you know the the different changes happening there, like that's something that you know I'm learning, I'm studying up on, but I'm I would say I'm not as well versed in that as you guys are, but then you guys bring that knowledge to the table and that's gonna help our company going forward. As far as doing that, I think that's definitely a good thing and you know the be able to help the older generations, you know, adapt more quickly and, being a small business, we can adapt more quickly if we want to turn to those different directions as well. So I think it's one of those things where the diversity in that aspect is it's very helpful.

Speaker 1: 8:41

Yeah, it's a good point. It's a really good point.

Speaker 3: 8:44

Yeah, and I was going to add on, and more so, a global context. You know, when we look at you know, nations like you know, china, for example. You know it's assumed that most of you know the folks that are working on, you know, more defense related projects and more government related projects are folks you know from China. You know they're of Chinese ethnicity. You know versus here, you know with us in contracting, and you know the people that we work with on the civilian, military side as well. You know a lot of people are, you know, from different types of backgrounds. You know they might have been born in a different nation and then, you know, been granted a US citizenship and then you know they now have a security clearance and I think you know America is probably, you know, the top country to take advantage of that. You know, compared to any other country in the world that you know we have. You know such a wide pool, you know, at least from when I was in school, you know is described as a melting pot of nations. That's what America is and you know, essentially, you know we because of that.

Speaker 3: 9:48

You know I think that's definitely an advantage of you know we have a wide pool of you know backgrounds and you know people coming from all over the place. You know to be able to, you know unite towards one common mission and I think, overall, that you know definitely impacts you know creativity and you know being able to. You know push it forward with. You know different mindsets coming from you know all over the place. I think that's a good thing. You know where. You know China, or you know some of the other nations that you know might be a little bit, you know secluded on. You know who they hire and you know the people in that nation. You know they might only be thinking one way. You know based upon, you know, what they see in their own country and that's it. So, yeah, I think it's definitely an advantage.

Speaker 1: 10:34

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, and putting it in the context of you know how other nations are restricted and aren't able to diversify just because of you know the makeup of the country or the norms that exist within the country is a really good point, and you know that. You know, having a degree of homogeneity is can make things, I think, a bit more streamlined at points. But the glaring weakness there is, you know, like you alluded to Devin, it's sort of a recycled train of thought, like you don't get any new inputs from people with. You know, maybe, different ways of thinking, different experiences to draw from. You know different backgrounds of expertise and things like that. That's really important, especially when it comes to you know things like innovation and trying to, you know, find areas where your company can have some sort of strategic advantage over the competitors. You know those types of ideas are really born from the creative friction that comes from differing mindsets and differing you know opinions on how to do something, how to problem solve, and you can only get that difference from literally different backgrounds. So, yeah, I think that that's a powerful, powerful tool for diversity and a really, I think, an endorsement of why it's so important.

Speaker 1: 12:13

I think some of the best, most successful companies on earth have a pretty broad range of diversity among their decision makers, among the primary decision makers.

Speaker 1: 12:22

I mean. You look at something like Google, where they have people from all different backgrounds Southeast Asia, america, sub-saharan Africa, Europe all in these C-suite level positions, and they all have something different to bring to the table. And I think that's what's made Google sort of the preeminent company that it is, because they've had such a wealth of knowledge and experiences to draw from as they scale up. So, yeah, that's a really, really powerful point there. Just to bring it home, what are some practical steps that small business owners can take to ensure that their recruitment efforts are inclusive and that their workplace culture supports diversity? Because it's one thing to make an initiative to become more inclusive, but if the core team that's there doesn't actively embrace the idea of diversity, you can have a well-meaning situation quickly go left. So what are some ways that small business owners can make sure that they're not only maintaining diversity as a focal point in their recruitment process, but that they're cultivating sort of an inclusive workplace to help that movement thrive?

Speaker 3: 13:53

Yeah, regarding creating an environment that's more inclusive and just more welcoming to everyone, I think something that's really good that we do is that we're pretty open as far as everything that's evolving the company.

Speaker 3: 14:10

Everyone's pretty much in the know of what's going on. There's really no secrets. So I think just being open and upfront about the company and the status of the business and making sure that if people do want to get involved, they can get involved, that's something that we do. We do encourage people to get involved with the company and whatever you want to do, we typically don't say no. If someone has an idea to do something, we let them go and do it. So I think that definitely helped us create a more fostering environment to make you sure that everyone's welcomed into the company and sort of on the back end point of that, we don't really force people to become involved either if they don't want to be involved. So we really leave it up to the individual and I think that creates a community of folks that they feel welcome either way, whether or not they do want to get involved and help out with the company or if they don't. So I think that's something that's really good that we do.

Speaker 1: 15:16

Yeah, that's a good point, man, and I think you know having the structure that we do, where you know different people can volunteer for so different back office activities like BD or events planning or marketing things like that, is sort of a precursor to fostering a really inclusive workplace, because it I think it signals to the workforce, to our teammates, that you know we are very much open to new ideas, very much open to two different ways of going about business.

Speaker 1: 15:56

We're not so set in our own paths that we can't take new mindsets coming in and sort of disrupting what we're doing for the better. And having laid that foundation with the team, I think is why you know we've been so successful in adopting an incredibly diverse work group. And yeah, I think that's an important thing for companies to keep in mind that you know, as part of a broader spectrum of initiatives you can put in place to make your team just feel generally more appreciated, more, you know, challenged, and have them feel like they have the opportunity to pursue you know what it is that actually sort of gets them motivated. And you know diversity is one thing, one input into that mindset that can just help build an overall more, I think, positive experience for the work group. So yeah, good stuff, guys.

Speaker 2: 17:12

And you know, I would say, on the other side of things, honestly, there's things out there where you can have, like you know, diversity metrics that you put out there, that you want to set certain numbers, you know you have like, provide diversity training, you know that's out there for your recruiters or whatever. I think like one thing that you could do that's going to make it a little more organic. Organic, in my opinion, would be you know, maybe have a diverse recruiting team. You know that way they're seeing things from different perspectives, or bring different perspectives to the table, and they may not necessarily just be looking in one particular area, one particular place, or you know four different candidates, and also explain the networks that you're looking for candidates on. So just look on one or two platforms to find your candidates you know there are some networks that you're looking for candidates you might find, you know, more diverse candidate pool than what you normally would find in general if you just search for more traditional ones that are out there. So there's just some things to think about as well.

Speaker 1: 18:10

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Having a multitude of different backgrounds actually looking to candidates to come on board can definitely ensure that you're going to get a broader sort of more diverse pool of candidates to choose from. That only makes sense, yeah, so I think great, great talk, guys. You know diversity is such a broad, inclusive subject that we could, we could go on for this for days, but we'll end it there. Thank you, guys for listening. Stay tuned for the next installment of Country Intelligence Report.

Speaker 4: 18:52

Until next time we'll talk to you later. Thank you for listening to the Country Intelligence Report. Please like and subscribe to stay on top of the latest developments with the show. For more information on the Country Intelligence Group, please visit our website at wwwcountryintelcom. You can also be found across multiple social media platforms at Country Intel.