Status of Senior Service School Program



Purpose: Provide the Coast Guard’s keynote address at the National Naval Officers Association annual symposium. The theme for this event is “Developing Leaders thought Education, Experience, and Personal Development.”Audience: Up to 500 USCG, USN, USMC, and NOAA active duty and retired officers and civilians. Predominately African American, but open to all demographics.Media: Closed to press however military PAOs will amplify message within their respective Services.Strategic Intent: Engage the services to advance diversity and inclusion initiatives. Duration: 50 minutes allotted for remarks and Q&A. OPENING[Extemporaneous Welcome] And thank you to each of you for being here. You are at the forefront of diversity leadership and it is you who can effect real change in our Services. I’m extremely grateful for your continued efforts on this front both here and when you return home to your respective units. And I’m proud to see the robust Coast Guard showing! As the Coast Guard’s Service Chief, I’ll speak for a bit about where we are in the Coast Guard from my perspective… but then I really want to hear from you.STRATEGY DRIVEN ORGANIZATIONIf you’re in the Coast Guard, you’re well aware that we’ve been incredibly successful with acquisitions lately. We continue to bring more National Security Cutters and Fast Response Cutters online. Soon we’ll be cutting steel on the Off-Shore Patrol. And in my 41 years, there has never been as much momentum toward recapitalizing heavy icebreakers nor has there ever been any traction toward replacing our tired inland fleet – some of which are over 70 years old – like there is today. Why am I talking about shiny new assets? You probably think I forgot where I am! Don’t worry, I didn’t.I’m telling you this because each of those new platforms aligns with and are directly tied to a Coast Guard strategy. These assets are coming online as strategic imperatives for the Coast Guard – they’ve been viewed as vital to what we do… to ensuring our Nation’s Security and Prosperity. The Off-Shore Patrol cutter – it’s tied to our Western Hemisphere strategy to combat the criminal networks that are devastating and destabilizing our region. Icebreakers are tied to our Arctic strategy and are needed to project our sovereignty and ensure our Nation’s security.Our inland fleets – that is directly tied to our strategy for facilitating our Marine Transportation System… a strategy aimed at facilitating over 4.5 trillion in economic activity on our waterways annually.We also have a Cyber Strategy, and we’ve seen solid Congressional support there as well.But I also have a Human Capital Strategy, within which is our Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. The Coast Guard has 5 strategies – 5. The last of which – the Human Capital Strategy - is the bedrock for it all. Not one of those other strategies is successful without our people… our workforce. Yet, despite all of our incredible recapitalization successes under those other strategies – Arctic, Cyber, Western Hemisphere - we continue to struggle with our Human Capital Strategy. Why is that!? People know how important this is to get right. As I said, it really is at the heart of everything we do. But the fact remains, it’s been the hardest strategic initiative for us to tackle. And despite our successes, I’m not happy with our progress in the Coast Guard as it relates to diversity and inclusion.RECRUITING The Coast Guard Academy has implemented several strategic initiatives to address specific recruitment and retention concerns. And they are bringing in over 30% under-represented minorities. But when you break those numbers down by individual ethnicities, the numbers quickly become countable, sometimes on one hand.I sat down with CDR Rachel Lewis a few months ago. I meet with the heads of all our affinity groups in an effort to keep aligned with ongoing initiatives. Amongst other things, Rachel spoke to me about her experience at the Academy. She told me that she, along with my former military aide Marcus Canady, were the only two African Americans to graduate in their class – the class of 2000. 2.This year, we graduated 4 members that self-identify as black or African American.You might say 100% is a big improvement… but we all know 4 is a tiny number.RETENTIONWe continue to have significant retention issues with women and minorities as well. But those of you in this room know that all too well… and again, I truly appreciate your individual efforts to mentor and develop diverse leaders for our Services.MOVING THE NEEDLEWhen it came to problems of Sexual Assault, Congress called us to the table. Of course, there’s a broader societal problem… and college campus’ are hugely concerning… but Congress looked to us – the Services – to fix the problem… To be the leaders for society.And we stepped up. The number of sexual assault reports in the Coast Guard is trending down, while we see an increased propensity to file an unrestricted report that reflects trust in our network of victim advocates, special victims counsel and a discreet and sensitive investigative process that upholds standards of accountability. We are getting after that problem and we are making a difference.The time has passed for the military to really get after its diversity problems as well. To make a difference.CRITICAL MASS & UNCONSCIOUS BIASCritical mass is the goal. Jay Newton Small talks about it in her book Broad Influence in the context of women in society. It’s the idea that once a minority group reaches a large enough proportion it’s sort of a tipping point… at that point those individuals no longer feel as isolated, are more comfortable being open and honest about their perspectives, and eventually unconscious biases in the group, at-large, tend to decrease.The Coast Guard, at-large, has incredible retention numbers. But with minorities leaving the Service at higher rates, critical mass remains elusive.And with that, unconscious biases in our members continue to be a problem, as well. In the Coast Guard, we’re working on organizational actions designed at shifting attitudes and culture. I’m a big fan of our newly enhanced leadership programs (MOCTC 1 and 2) that invest a great deal of time educating on these issues… We are currently developing unconscious bias training to roll out Service-wide and we have also injected unconscious bias orientation into command cadre training.I know these issues are incredibly difficult. Serious problems persist in our Nation. But if anyone is going to be a leader on this front, it’s us. And I don’t want to just be ahead of the curve, I want to drive the curve!An initiative is not automatically a win. I want to start counting wins, not initiatives. Clear wins that society can emulate.CALL TO ACTIONThis will take more than our respective Diversity and Inclusion Offices can handle alone. Don’t misunderstand, we are making incremental organizational strides in the right direction – we would be remiss if we were not. But to “attract, access, develop, and retain a respectful, diverse, and inclusive workforce that reflects the richness of our society” – which is, verbatim, the goal in our strategy – it will be an all hands on deck job. As I said before, we have a strategy to drive our organization on this issue just as we do for our other strategic imperatives… but it will take more than that with this. And I continue to look to you to be leaders on this front.Having a strategy targeted at this issue yet not seeing the numbers significantly shift - it is one of the many things that keeps me up at night. But it also gets me up at 5am every morning, rain or shine, to work for that difference. I have only 10 months left in the Coast Guard. 10 months and 4 days to be exact. Unless, of course, I can talk the detailer into giving me command of one of those National Security Cutter’s I spoke of earlier.I’ve been sprinting a marathon race – I give myself a 7 minute mile. But in these remaining 10 months my plan is to only pick up the pace – aim for that 6 minute mile!And this is an issue I’m keenly focused on – focused on making an impact to ensure our workforce is and remains the best, brightest, and most innovative it can be, long after my tenure. That demands diversity. It demands inclusion. I applaud each and every one of your efforts to drive this change with me.But what are we missing? What am I missing?I’d tell you to email me but know no one will want to do that. But, I do have a lot of people working on these tough issues and I want you to reach out to them. Captain Dave Husted is here today – he and his team are working on these issues and need to hear from you! In the Coast Guard, you can also go to the Human Capital Strategy Implementation Portal Site to provide your ideas. The other Services have similar teams in place, ready to hear your ideas. As I said, we truly need all hands on deck – and that means you.But, while you’ve got me here in person, what ideas can you give me?... [Open for Q&A] ................
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