Supplier Diversity For Dummies. Kathey K. Porter

supplier diversity to make it practical, understandable, accessible, and implementable. My hope is that it speaks to everyone with an interest in supplier diversity, from seasoned professionals to new practitioners to stakeholders responsible for leading this effort to senior leaders at the top. In other words, leaders at all levels can benefit from this book.

      I want to quickly point out a few things to help you better navigate and use this book:

       Important terms and key words are in italics and are followed with a quick definition or explanation.

       Keywords and action steps in lists appear in bold.

       Sidebars (look for the shaded boxes) feature content that’s interesting and informative but not essential to your understanding of a topic. If you’re wanting to get in and out quickly, you can safely skip them.

Foolish Assumptions

      Generally, I know it’s not a good idea to make assumptions. But for this book, I’ve made a few to better serve your needs:

       You’re working at an organization in a manager or leader role.

       You recognize that the world of work is changing, and you want to better understand it.

       You have little or no knowledge and experience in leading supplier diversity initiatives and want to pick up the fundamentals.

       You may be uneasy about supplier diversity and curious about how it can help your organization.

       You want to develop into a more effective and impactful supplier diversity leader.

Icons Used in This Book

      Throughout this book, you find icons that help you navigate the information. Here’s a rundown of what they mean:

      

This icon alerts you to helpful hints. Tips can help you save time and avoid frustration.

      

This icon reminds you of important information you should read carefully.

      

This icon flags actions and ideas that may cause you problems. Often, warnings accompany common mistakes or misconceptions people have about supplier diversity.

      

This icon highlights information that goes a bit beyond need-to-know but is still helpful and interesting. You can skip this stuff if you’re pressed for time and just want the absolute basics.

Beyond the Book

      This book contains lots of ideas, strategies, checklists, tools, resources, references, best practices, and other sources that give you more than enough to work with. But there’s more! It includes an online Cheat Sheet that provides guidance and tips for spotting and dealing with common supplier diversity barriers, a list of questions to determine your organizational readiness, and ways to gain internal and external stakeholder support. To access this handy Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and type Supplier Diversity For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the search box.

      Additionally, if you, your team, or members of your organization need supplier diversity training, coaching, a keynote speaker, or consulting on any of the processes I share in this book, or want to obtain a certificate in supplier diversity, you can access information and a number of free resources at www.sdti.co.

Where to Go from Here

      Like supplier diversity, this book isn’t linear. Feel free to use the table of contents as a guide to move around to get exactly what you need. Part 1 gets you off to a great start and sets the foundation for really understanding supplier diversity. Part 2 looks at your internal environment. Part 3 discusses your suppliers and developing a program that’s supplier-centric. Part 4 examines the external environment and your community. Part 5 talks about technology and analytics and the role they play in today’s supplier diversity programs. Part 6 looks at how to build or expand a career in supplier diversity.

      This book isn’t designed to be an exhaustive or definitive work on supplier diversity. And I don’t expect you to become an expert on all things supplier diversity in order to become an effective practitioner. Supplier diversity is a process and a journey, and you won’t get to the Billion Dollar Roundtable overnight. Hopefully, though, you’ll be able to sharpen your skills and apply what you read here so that you can help your organization and the diverse businesses you work with. Focus on being that champion that everyone wants to support because they believe in the mission behind supplier diversity and the value it brings to the organization and the community.

Part 1

      Getting Started with Supplier Diversity

IN THIS PART …

      Examine the growing demand for supplier diversity.

      Discover the basis and history of supplier diversity.

      Explain supplier diversity management (SDM).

      Recognize the differences between supplier diversity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

      Understand the supplier diversity structure within your organization.

Chapter 1

      Understanding the Growing Demand for Supplier Diversity

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Getting crystal clear on the nature of supplier diversity

      

Identifying the continued need for supplier diversity

      

Eyeing how external factors are changing the field

      

Exploring companies’ renewed investment in supplier diversity

      Supplier diversity is a proactive business strategy that encourages buying from businesses that identify as belonging to a specific socioeconomic, historically disadvantaged, or underutilized demographic as suppliers, vendors, and contractors. The Small Business Administration, commonly called the SBA, classifies businesses in a number of categories. The most common are minority-owned or disadvantaged, women-owned, veteran-owned, and service-disabled-veteran owned. Corporations have expanded