AWESOME Speaks with Paula Duell Northern about Black History Month

I’m happy to share my thoughts, it’s been an interesting journey for me and in supply chain. First, I started with a degree in mechanical engineering and had an opportunity to intern with GE.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do but knew I enjoyed STEM careers. I knew engineering had a lot of opportunities, and I knew that I liked things that were tangible, which drove me to mechanical engineering.

I got a chance to intern at the aviation business for GE, and it clicked for me – how engineers and supply chain worked. I also had an opportunity to spend three summers at GE and one at Exxon Mobil, where I really understood how critical supply chain is to an organization. So, when you’re in post-graduation, you’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed contemplating all the possibilities. One of the things that was critical for me was not being afraid to ask for mentors and not being afraid to ask people what their career paths looked like who either were five years ahead of me or had been in their career for a while. I started to model some of the experiences that they had.

One of the things that I realized early on was there were not a heck of a lot of women in supply chain, and I didn’t know any black women who were in supply chain.

So, I looked around and said, “Okay, could this be an area where I could make an impact, and how can I get the right feedback, transparent feedback so that I can be successful?”  Part of my challenge was finding role models, and I was lucky early on to find folks willing to mentor, give me feedback, and give me tough assignments where they knew I would learn.

Overcoming those challenges really was seeking that critical feedback and knowing that I always could get better –– and really using that feedback as an opportunity to improve. And always having a mindset of, “even if it was seen as successful, what could I have done to do even better?” When you have disappointments–which, listen I had a couple of assignments that I wish had gone differently, early in my career especially–I tried to think of it as a learning opportunity. What can I pick up from this experience as I go forward?

Progress, especially in this area, is something you should measure over a more significant amount of time. But I do think that there are some points of progress. I think one of the things that I am most proud of is starting to see young people understanding what supply chain is, especially young black people.

And I think about some of our historically black colleges and universities now offering degrees in or concentrations in supply chain that didn’t exist at HBCUs. That exposure of young people to this very exciting field is a big, big deal.

Another thing that you always have to find is the silver lining, right?  For example, no one enjoyed living through the pandemic, but I think we all appreciate supply chain so much more during and post COVID… I think it made an impact on people who maybe had not considered careers in supply chain, either consider it or think, “okay, I may be in finance and I have some adjacent experience…is there an opportunity for me in supply chain?” I think that has resonated within the black and African American community.

For me, mentoring was significant. I would say mentoring and mentoring that eventually turns into sponsorship, I felt like it was critical for me, even though I may not have known it at the time.

Growing up, my parents were educators, but my dad always was involved in business, and he always was an entrepreneur. So, navigating through corporate America was really a little bit of a leading edge for me. Mentoring was unparalleled in my life because I learned so much about how to navigate career pathing and experience and, what I should look for in assignments, how I should even think about exposure.

I had two women in my career––remember there wasn’t a heck of a lot of us early in my career––that took an interest in me, and both were my boss. Both were my bosses at one point, but we also developed a real mentoring and then sponsoring relationship.

The first person was the General Vice President of supply chain for my business, who I consider pivotal in my career and was really the first one that challenged me that I could go farther than maybe I thought. And it was just through those interactions and experiences that I realized that I could look beyond to the next level. I think the value of having those relationships and being lucky enough to have two women in supply chain, I don’t underestimate the impact of their influence on me. It shows up even today in how I think, how I engage, how I mentor and coach young women who come behind me.

I think we still have a lot that we can do for both Black women and men coming into this space.

First you have to get outside of your comfort zone, find someone with a career that you think you can learn from and that they will be willing to share openly.

The second thing is to be open and ask for actionable feedback. I think that feedback by human nature is very, very difficult to get. Even if people have feedback, I think by human nature, it’s very difficult for people to communicate that.

I think it’s even harder to give actionable feedback. If you go through your end-of-the-year performance review and or ask for peer feedback and they say that they have nothing to share with you…keep pressing because there is something there.

I think it’s even more difficult, for whatever reason, for people to give actionable feedback to Black women. And my advice is that you have to press for it. You have to keep saying, “I want to contribute to the organization, and I feel like I have a lot to give.”

Those are the two things that I would encourage both employees and leaders to do.

I’ve always been a big fan of employee resource groups. I think that for me growing up, especially in corporate America, it gave me kind of a safe zone to take what I was learning in business, what I was learning in my function and apply it within a smaller group.
I would really encourage ERG participation if your employer has them. I think the other thing is any time there is a stretch opportunity that you really care about or a passion project that you really care about…don’t be afraid to say, “you know what? I’m interested in that. I’d love to champion it, or I’d love to get involved.”

As supply chain, we want to take people with passion, who understand the industry and think about what’s to come next. And so, I think giving opportunities for those stretch assignments, for example, for employees would be one way to do that. Have an opportunity for employers, the leadership, and employees to think about how to learn from other industries.

There are a lot of best practices, and I think by giving that exposure, we can really accelerate some of the work that we’re doing.

We talked about the importance of mentoring, and one thing that I have always tried to do as well is not just seek one person for mentoring. I always learned early on to think about those that support me more on a board of directors level. I think that’s really important for Black women to have people on our board that are in supply chain that you could talk shop with a little bit, like “what’s going on in the industry? What are you seeing? What are your challenges?” Also, conversely, someone in finance could be interesting to include because there’s so much of our world that’s tied to financials as we’re making decisions. I like the diversity of a board of directors that combine folks in the supporting function and other Black women who are working within your same field.

And then recognizing the generation behind you, understanding the greater exposure and variability within supply chain that so many others are trying to navigate. We want them to go beyond what we’ve been able to achieve. There are so many smart and talented individuals out there and I think it’s just an extraordinary opportunity for us to help accelerate some of that young talent.

It’s so interesting, especially with the advent of LinkedIn, I really am so encouraged and sometimes a little bit surprised, by the number of young women who will just drop me a message and say, “I looked at your career profile and I love the experiences you’ve had. Would you mind sharing time with me about what you’ve learned? How did you navigate? What was your thinking?” I’ve had some great conversations with a variety of people about career path or they’re thinking about supply chain, so I think it’s exciting for me to have those conversations. And in some cases, to run into those same people in supply chain conferences or other meetings.

I’d say first there’s some great, great, great talented Black women out there and in supply chain. I encourage others to seek out, be a mentor, and if you feel comfortable, advocate and sponsor those women. We don’t have enough, I think, folks willing to spend time and really sponsor.

Give feedback! If you’re lucky enough to engage in one way or another, be willing to give actionable feedback. Be willing to give stretch assignments with support, I was told a stretch assignment is one where you’re stretched, but you have the right support to be successful…I think that’s a great opportunity to accelerate learning.

The last thing – the supply chain world is so dynamic; it’s changing every single day. The opportunity to be exposed to this ever-changing industry is a big deal. So, I would encourage organizations to help make that happen. I think it will pay off as we know diversity does in dividends.