This session will discuss how diversity is critical to national defence and security, and how a new approach is needed to treat diversity like any other strategic capability. A panel of government, military, and industry will highlight the urgency around a need to develop a more diverse defence capability, discuss how the benefits of a diverse workforce can be accelerated, and how this will lead to a retained and resilient defence force. The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the urgent requirement to acquire key skills in divergent thinking to avoid groupthink. This panel will address how diversity can be managed not as a target to be met, but as an acquisition of core capabilities.