Already demonstrating remarkable success in growing supplier diversity, Deloitte continues its journey to become an industry leader. Under Gary Sutton’s leadership, supplier diversity is poised to make an economic impact.
- By Lisa Trumbull,
Copyright @Deloitte Services LLP
Deloitte has a strong culture of excellence, so
it’s no surprise they’re bringing that same
culture to supplier diversity. Deloitte’s foray
into supplier diversity began in the early
2000’s and was meaningfully elevated in
2009 when Deloitte acquired a government practice. That
government practice had already developed an effective
supplier diversity program, so the acquisition established
a strong platform for growth. As Deloitte’s government
practice grew from 2009-2020, so did their spend with
diverse suppliers, soaring to nearly $700M annually.
In 2020, Deloitte established its first Purpose office,
focused on architecting a more equitable future for all,
which includes strengthening its commitment to supplier
diversity with an aspirational goal for its US firm to spend
$1 billion with Diverse Suppliers by 2025. In 2021, the
Office of Business Diversity was established, and Gary
Sutton, Managing Director and Office of Business Diversity
Leader at Deloitte, established a clear purpose and strategic
vision for the future.
Within that framework, Gary noted, “Our goals were
not quotas but rather aspirational targets to focus on areas
where additional efforts are conisdered important. In furtherance
of these efforts, the Office of Business Diversity
sought – and continues to seek -- to expand the pool of
available supplier resources and further diversify the organization’s
supply chain.”
Building A Bridge to The Future
To take Deloitte’s supplier diversity aspirations to the next
level, an infrastructure was needed to lead the organization
into the future. The know-how needed to build the
infrastructure was based on Gary’s 20-year consulting
career, where he led numerous clients through procurement
organization transformations.
That experience was the inspiration for the decision to
establish three critical functional areas within Deloitte’s
Office of Business Diversity.
The priority was a reporting and analytics function. This was
a priority because of the age-old adage, “if you can’t measure it,
you can’t manage it.” Deloitte has built this function into a leading
reporting engine that effectively leverages automation.
In parallel, Deloitte launched a function focused on stakeholder
outreach and communications. Deloitte knew that any aspirational
pursuit involving change required internal and external stakeholders
being involved throughout the transformation journey.
What came next was a supplier management function focused
on managing Deloitte’s portfolio of diverse suppliers, cataloging
their capabilities and assessing their performance.
Taken together, the reporting, stakeholder outreach and communications,
and supplier management functions formed Deloitte’s
supplier diversity operation and paved the way for the future.
Forming a Team to Lead the Way
Deloitte leaders knew the Office of Business Diversity’s infrastructure
would only be as good as the team leading it. Deloitte needed
a team with skills grounded in supplier diversity and its network of
stakeholders. They needed a team with skills sharpened by years of
assessing raw data and developing insights. And, they knew the glue
needed to hold it all together was passion for the work.
Leading a “Simpler Life”
Over the years, Gary developed a personal formula for leadership
that he calls CMPLR (pronounced simpler). The five elements he’s
identified that are important for leadership are making people feel
like they are being CHALLENGED, feel like they are MAKING
a difference, feel like they are being PRODUCTIVE, feel like they
are LEARNING, and feel RECOGNIZED. Gary believes it’s a
great day when his team can feel all these things all the time, but his
commitment is to work with his team so they feel at least one of these
elements on a consistent basis, with the belief that the team’s performance
can be elevated in a culture centered around these elements.
Delivering The Results
Deloitte publicly releases the results of its diversity, equity, and
inclusion aspirations in their annual DEI Transparency Report. In
the last published report following their fiscal year close in May of
2023, total spend with diverse suppliers was reported to be $1.5B,
(based on a $1.0B aspiration) a clear indication of the effectiveness
of their infrastructure, their team and the incredible support they
receive from Deloitte leaders.
And while Deloitte celebrates these numbers, they also recognize
the need to think more broadly about ways to translate their supplier
diversity efforts into economic impact and go beyond the metric of
“spend” as the sole measurement of success.
Deloitte is working on one such effort in Chicago, where they
are building a program in collaboration with workforce development
organizations tapping into a large pool of skilled workers.
This talented labor pool is skilled in areas important to employers,
but the individuals in this pool may only have a two-year degree, or
no degree, so may not align perfectly with the backgrounds many
corporations are accustomed to recruiting.
If this pool of skilled talent receives targeted training, they may
have opportunities in corporate apprenticeships, direct corporate
hiring, and hiring by suppliers that provide services to corporate
and public sector clients. Gary believes that this can be a rich talent
pool for suppliers - especially small and diverse suppliers. By tapping
into this skills-based talent pool, small and diverse suppliers can
grow their businesses and create benefits for their clients and the
community, including higher levels of employment and economic
development, both of which can become new, broader metrics of
supplier diversity success.
Eying The Future
Deloitte’s other aspiration is to be recognized as an industry thought
leader on the topic of supplier diversity. To that end, the Office
of Business Diversity is focused on making strides in promoting
innovative ideas in support of economic development and impact
through supplier diversity.
About Deloitte
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited,
a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network
of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its
member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL
(also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to
clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US
member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the
“Deloitte” name in the United States and their respective affiliates.
Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules
and regulations of public accounting.
Please visit
www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about its global
network of member firms. In addition, please visit Deloitte’s Purpose and DEI Office Impact site at
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/purpose-at-deloitte-us.html to learn more about Deloitte’s US firm 1 billion plus spend with Diverse Suppliers by 2025.