Panelists at the SATELLITE 2022 “How to Hire and Maintain Diverse Talent” session offered best practices for improving DEI in the satellite industry, part of the new “Inclusive Innovation” track produced with Space Frontier Foundation.
Erin Weber, general counsel of ABL Space Systems, said diverse viewpoints are essential: “It’s difficult coming up with a scenario where having a diverse viewpoint was not beneficial. The goal is to have thought about all the permutations and think about the best path forward.”
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Renee Frohnert, a leader at L3Harris Technologies, shared how a culture of inclusion once saved millions of dollars: a junior engineer felt empowered to flag a requirement concern, it was changed, and significant back-end production costs were avoided. “If you don’t establish a culture of inclusion internally, that can cause problems with groupthink. In the space industry, we don’t have time for failure.”
Kenneth Harris II, senior project engineer for The Aerospace Corporation, stressed mentorship and preparation: “You don’t always have it all together at the very beginning. It takes a village of individuals to get you to where you are.” He advised being deliberate with mentors: “Don’t make mentor relationships transactional.”
Panelists agreed that unconscious bias training and expanding recruitment beyond traditional networks are critical. Harris said: “Broadening your horizon is not a cookie cutter approach. You have to approach people in different ways.” VS
