Diverse Digital Talent is the Key to Competitive Advantage
Jinyoung Englund presents a keynote address at DefenseTalks (May 11, 2023)
By: jinyoung englund
Acting Deputy Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Directorate for Digital Services & DDS DIRECTOR
In 1872, Li Hongzhang, a Qing Dynasty general and official, penned the phrase, “三千年未有之大變局” which translates to “great changes unseen in three thousand years.” This one line captured the geopolitical and technological transformations Li witnessed during his own life which he viewed as a threat to the Qing dynasty’s very existence, THROWING the international balance of power to the wind for the taking.
Ultimately, Li failed to modernize China, lost a war to Japan, and signed the embarrassing Treaty of Shimonoseki with Tokyo, ushering in China’s Century of Humiliation and Britain’s rise. The next time power crossed an ocean was when the British Empire, already in decline, was crippled by two back-to-back world wars. In 1947, the United States emerged as the global superpower, kicking off the American Century.
This phrase has now been aptly adjusted to reflect, “百年未有之大变局,” which translates to “great changes unseen in a century” because the introduction of the Internet and ubiquity of technology has sped up the rate of geopolitical chess for global power.
Today, we are once again in the midst of “geopolitical and technological transformations.” Great power competition means we are in a competition between great powers and competition for great power. A competition over who will emerge as the global superpower for the next century.
The determining factors? Big data and the implementation of artificial intelligence.
We know that today’s challenge is in the sheer volume, velocity, and variety of data that is now available. Converting that data into actionable intelligence takes time and artificial intelligence is a tool that can be leveraged to release humans from time-consuming, manual tasks to focus on the unique qualities that make us human: creativity, care, intuition, adaptability, and judgment, to make the best decisions for humanity.
That is why buying technology alone is not the answer. Buying technology merely facilitates our ability to compete. The key to gaining a competitive advantage isn’t simply buying the best technology. It’s hiring technologists. At DoD, DDS is the original digital talent management pilot for recruiting and retaining top technical talent.
As he stood us up, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said: "I can't offer them money, I can't offer the fanciest kind of circumstances and glamor, but we have a mission."
I resonate with that. As a second-generation military spouse and immigrant, I absolutely joined for the mission.
I started out in product management and strategic operations the week COVID-19 shut down the Pentagon. Throughout the first year of the pandemic, I was solo parenting while my spouse, an active-duty Marine, was stationed elsewhere. In year two, I started my Master’s program with my boss’ support and was promoted to Chief of Staff. As I was starting my third year, my boss departed to accept her dream job and I was appointed the Acting DDS Director and Deputy CDAO for Digital Services, while 34 weeks pregnant.
I’m sharing this not to impress you but to impress upon you the facts. A 2008 study by the Harvard Business Review found the attrition rate for women in science, engineering and technology to be more than twice the rate for men.
“Over time, 52% of these talented women quit their jobs. Most strikingly, this female exodus is not a steady trickle. Rather, there seems to be a key moment in women’s lives – in their mid to late thirties – when most head for the door.”
What’s remarkable is that not only was I able to stay, I was empowered to flourish because of our workplace culture.
At DDS, we are a remote-first team that allows flexible work schedules, proactively promotes and pays for continued professional growth, and allows our team members to decide how they take their 480 hours of parental leave according to what is best for their unique circumstances – without question or judgment. Because, let’s be real; finding reliable and affordable childcare is a challenge. In the nearly three years since twelve weeks of paid parental leave was instituted for federal employees, DDS has welcomed seven babies, including my own, from both the men and women on our team. Our agile talent management practices, coupled with our value of open and proactive communication, allow the team to flex and leadership to reprioritize to best support the mission and the people delivering it.
Now that we are a part of CDAO, the bureaucracy hacking process is underway so that we can scale DDS’ best practices in managing digital talent. From recruiting to hiring, upskilling, work/life integration, and access to a modern tech stack, we are building out the roadmap to transform DoD into an organization where a technologically sophisticated workforce wants to be. It is through these changes we envision building both a pipeline and revolving door with industry for diverse digital talent.
Our adversaries may be able to build technology that rivals our own. But fundamentally, authoritarian ideologies are a stumbling block to cultivating diversity. Conversely, and uniquely, America’s digital talent pool and our national security capabilities are enriched by its diversity of gender, experience, race, ethnicity, and thought. This is the key to unlocking our competitive advantage.
In the competition for great power, diversity is our strength, and we need to lean in. We need partners, like-minded women like Dr. Theon Danet, DeCA CIO, and sponsors like John Sherman, DoD CIO, who are taking steps to form a coalition of the willing and lead. Join us as we do the work to break barriers and pave the way.
*Sylvia Ann Hewlett et al., “Stopping the exodus of women in science,” Harvard Business Review, June 2008. https://hbr.org/2008/06/stopping-the-exodus-of-women-in-science
