Excel’s Little “Secret”

By Deb Yamanaka 
 
We don’t have DEI initiatives.  We never have. 

Don’t go jumping to conclusions that what is going on with this presidential administration is causing us to hide who we are or roll back policies.   
 
Don’t assume we’re white supremist either. Blech. (Blech, blech, blech) 
 
We just don’t think that merit is related to the color of someone’s skin, or their religion, or their gender. Or any other factor that is none of our business. And just like the First Amendment clearly states, we don’t think the government – or we – have any business in religion.   
 
We DO believe in respect. Respect for each other. Respect for our clients. Respect for the people we serve (and we serve a LOT of people – about 334 million in fact). 
 
And we’ve disciplined, willingly accepted a resignation, or fired employees who aren’t respectful. A few of them, in fact, hate us for that. No problem for me. 

We’re big fans of government accountability. And we’ve always been “America First.”   
 
We only hire American citizens. We learned a long time ago that technical talent alone isn’t enough. Don’t get me wrong, we prize technical talent. And innovative approaches to complex problems. We love technical curiosity. We believe in a future that looks much better than our now and our yesterday. But we hire American because we believe in investing in our citizens and our country. 
 
We want the best “value for dollar” – which means we’ll never be the cheapest. BUT we WILL be more than you can get for that same dollar anywhere else. We can prove it. 
 
When I look at our employees, it’s very much the same way I look at an exquisite tapestry.  Every employee brings a diversity that makes us beautiful.   
 
And we have a pretty diverse group of employees.   
 
We didn’t actively say “we’re going to be diverse.”  We just removed unnecessary barriers to success in the company because, frankly, those barriers have nothing to do with being able to do the job we need to have done.  It’s tricky btw, because we also don’t pay for things like maternity or paternity leave – those are personal choices that shouldn’t negatively impact the work we do or cause others to have to pick up the extra workload. 
 
But along the way we also discovered that in two or more candidates who happen to be equally qualified, some of the most “diverse” also cost less. That’s a cost savings we pass on to the American people in the work we do. 
 
There are laws in place that require us to report on our diversity and the Equal Opportunity Act is a law we’re required to follow. So we do. But it’s easy because success doesn’t mean you have to look like me (Seriously, just how many old, fat grandmas do you think we have to choose from?), so we gather the numbers and report as required – minimal extra effort. 
 
Do I believe that barriers to success exist elsewhere? Yes. This country denied 51% of its population the right to vote until just over a 100 years ago. A person’s sex limited their ability to fight in the establishment and defense of our country (look up Deborah Sampson Gannett sometime – she’s seriously kick-ass.)  And I’ve been known to totally fan-girl Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who was also known as “Lady Death” during World War II – proof that sex doesn’t mean a woman can’t be deadly on the battlefield. Women were limited in our ability to buy a home, have a bank account, and establish credit until about 50 years ago. Today, women-owned small businesses still struggle against fraud by male-run businesses attempting to gain unfair advantage in the 5% of federal dollars targeted at overcoming 250 years of deliberate suppression to entry for 51 percent of American citizens. That’s not a DEI thing. That’s just a group of people being jerks. 
 
We don’t like jerks. They violate Excel’s culture. 
 
So yes, sometimes we need to be deliberately active in standing up and saying we are going to level the playing field by removing unnecessary obstacles. 

 
And sometimes it just comes naturally. 

Deb Yamanaka is the Chief Executive Officer of Excel Technologies LLC. She has spent the last 40 years shaping her passion for technology, organizational resilience and crisis management. She has focused on advanced analytic and collaboration tools and continuity of government. She is as comfortable talking about transformational goals and modernization experience as she is monitoring bloom patterns in a pandemic. She attributes that to her work with the National Security, Defense, Civilian, and Commercial sectors. 

Excel Technologies, LLC is an SBA-certified Woman-Owned Small Business made up of highly skilled professionals committed to delivering leading-edge information and mission solutions. We are honored that our work is a vital element of a much larger mission which enables a free and democratic society.