The Navy and NASCAR

Today there was a blogger roundtable I missed due to travel, the topic, Recruiting. The Navy is leveraging NASCAR for recruitment, specifically the Navy car driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (#88) to recruit. Enter one of my favorite bloggers, Boston Maggie, who we'll refer to as the goddess of the naval blogger strike group keeping us all honest. Maggie kicked ass today at the roundtable, giving us something to talk about with this issue, which I was not sure was actually possible. Even better, she did it with one good question.

Well, recently the CNO spoke about diversity. And I believe the quote was, when the nation looks at the Navy, it should see itself reflected back.

How are you incorporating that motive into this campaign?

Great question, because like you the first thing that pops into everyone's mind when I hear recruiting and NASCAR is diversity! Maggie is quoting the CNO from reporting like this from just the other day.

Capt. Jack Hanzlik has an interesting answer though, I'll post in parts. I have completely ignored the "diversity" discussions in the Navy because I'm not in the Navy, but because this is a blogger roundtable, because I'm at least aware of NASCAR being a sports fan, and because this is a Navy blog I'm opening the floor.

Well, I think NASCAR has had the reputation of being more of a male-dominant, white-attracted or Caucasian-attracted type of sport if you will. We're finding that that demographic has changed substantially.

There's at least equally a large number of female folks who are interested in NASCAR. And so that's one element. We're heavily focused on attracting women to the Navy these days. So we do reach that demographic in that audience.

There are fewer minorities in the service, I'm sorry, in NASCAR, than you'll find in other areas, other sports for example. But it seems to be growing. And I don't have any measure to give you at what rate it's growing. But you'll see it in the drivers. We certainly see it in the teams too. I mean, the team is as diverse as they come.

And what we try to show when we bring our sailors there is that we are a diverse service, from those folks that are involved with the recruiting activities. We have both men and women and usually each of the different race and ethnic backgrounds represented there too, so that as young men and women approach us to talk to us about the service, they see that we are a diverse organization.

I don't get the daily bombardment of diversity love letters that sailors get, so I have no idea what the policy is nor what it is like in the Navy. I do know what its like in business though, and diversity means very little outside of government and politics. Government in general has become too sensitive and too politically correct for my taste. In the workplace, at least in all the workplaces I travel to, people don't want to have their race highlighted for positive spin, they want to have their work highlighted for positive spin, which is why so many people work so damn hard. It isn't about what they are, it is about what they are doing.

I get that it might be useful to "have both men and women and usually each of the different race and ethnic backgrounds represented" but as far as the rest of the answer, it sounds fake because it is bullshit. Is the Dale Earnhardt Jr. recruiting campaign really about recruiting women and minorities? If it is, next time hire Brad Pitt and Tyra Banks.

Here is what Capt. Jack Hanzlik should have said, "We recruit white people too." That isn't racist to say, and it is the truth, and there is nothing wrong with saying it. Am I suggesting minorities don't go to NASCAR or don't like NASCAR? Nope, but trying to tie diversity in recruitment on the topic of NASCAR is a bit dishonest, and is spin. How clear was it that he was spinning? Capt. Hanzlik got so dizzy he somehow took the topic of diversity and NASCAR to its logical destination... Ballistic Missile Defense.

We also carry that one step further in that we have a program called the Fleet Honoree Program. And that's part of our morale focus, where we bring young men and women who are sailors out in the fleet, doing great work, and it's kind of a reward where we choose one of our commands to be honored at each race. And a lot of times it may tie to something unique that has happened in the real world also.

For example, down at Talladega, we brought the folks off of the USS Lake Erie. Lake Erie, if you remember, a little more than a month and a half ago, was the cruiser that shot down the spy satellite. And we thought that there might be some real interest for media to have the opportunity to interview the young kids -- I say kids, but -- the young men and women that were involved in that incredible event.

And so we try to bring down sailors that have recently done something that is noteworthy, that media might be interested in talking to them about. It's a nice reward for them to come down and experience -- that's kind of a unique thing. And then we bring them right down to the pits, and they spend the day in the garage, at the pit, with the team throughout the day, and they get a chance to meet those folks that are really running the programs for the drivers.

And they get a chance to sort of share their respective experiences and see men and women like themselves that are doing different jobs.

And you know, it puts our best foot forward. And I think that everybody that's had a chance to meet the young men and women that come down and participate as a fleet honoree, they've always been very impressed with them.

For recruiting at a NASCAR event, I have a suggestion. Set up a booth with 100 pictures and video of the Sea Fighter, Austal LCS, HSV Swift, and Super Hornets supersonic. Find a few former enlisted and officers who have served on those platforms, and tell them to share stories. People don't go to a NASCAR event because they love left turns, they go because they like to drink, but also because they enjoy speed. Considering how much speed is costing the nation in shipbuilding, we might as well start getting some return on investment somewhere!

The program Capt. Hanzlik describes sounds like an awesome program, and a very smart way to capitalize on events like the Satellite shoot down. Here is my question though, if you are rewarding an entire section for their work during an event, does it take work to create diversity? I'd wager not, because the numbers are what they are. From the same article linked above.

Across all branches of the U.S. military, the numbers are (enlisted and officer ranks):

White - 66%; Black - 20%; Hispanic - 7.5 %, Asian/Pacific Island - 3.5%, American Indian - .9%;

For whatever reason, and I honestly don't care what those reasons are because they do not matter at all, the percentages listed are not balanced against the total population of the United States. According to the US Census Bureau the racial demographics from 2006 break down as follows:

White - 73.9%; Black - 12.2%; Hispanic - 14.8%, Asian/Pacific Island - 4.5%, American Indian - .8%;

You can see it however you want, but I see it like this. The comparison tells me the military doesn't have a diversity problem, they are clearly reaching minorities and if there was one area that could use improvement, it would appear based on these statistics they should perhaps look for creative ways to reach out to the Hispanic community.

The Navy can suggest NASCAR recruiting fits into all this diversity talk and even suggest a NASCAR recruiting campaign is intended to target women, but at the end of the day, Capt. Hanzlik's answer is spin, driven by fear of the diversity brigades more than anything. It isn't doing the Navy any good if the PAOs are walking on eggshells, and are forced to spin themselves dizzy because a blogger asked a good question.

Since Capt. Hanzlik can't say it, I will. The NASCAR recruiting program is doing what any smart recruiter program would do, is is targeting a base of potential candidates that are more likely to sign up. As I've mentioned many times, part of my role as a business owner is to hire qualified people who will do a job and do it well. When I need specialized folks for high level IT jobs, I don't advertise using the local newspaper. I use technical lists and websites specific to my requirements where I know I am more likely to find someone experienced and knowledgeable with the skill set I desire for the position.

The Navy deserves credit for this program. They are going to places where they are more likely to find patriotic young people willing to join the Navy. Sounds like a smart use of money for recruiting to me. It is a shame that the Navy PAO for the program can't tell it like it is, and it takes a good question from Maggie and some analysis here to offer honesty to the program and its objectives. For the record, I don't blame Capt. Hanzlik, sounds to me like he does a good job, its the stupid screwed up system he is operating within that creates the problem, and that should be clear as day to his superiors.