Navigating Anti-DEI Pushback: 3 Key Strategies For Inclusive Leaders
The keys to staying the course as an inclusive leader include community, education, and more.
Significant moments impacting inclusive leadership are on the horizon. First, we're nearing the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder. Secondly, we are nearly 120 days from the signed executive order that encouraged federal agencies to highlight organizations that have engaged in illegal discrimination through diversity, equity, and inclusion. Since then, we've seen a lot transpire (i.e., pushes for large Corporate Boards to investigate or end DEI practices, announcements around ending or adjusting DEI goals, settlements made to avoid litigation, and reaffirmations to stay on the DEI journey). This barrage of activities is a lot for all of us to navigate, so grace is necessary to show up, respond, and navigate these times effectively. This week's article provides an infusion of hope, awareness, and community required to thrive during these times.
Transparently, I've been astonished by the unfolding of the current landscape, its impact on this work, and the communities impacted. Hence, it's taken some time to allow ongoing processing and action planning for the future. However, I'm grateful to have found and attended The Power of Inclusion Summit hosted by The Winters Group. The experience was therapeutic, energizing, inspiring, and educational. The event provided fuel to stay the course, and I'm inspired to continue sharing my thought leadership with the readers of this column, offering encouragement to remain committed to the inclusive leadership journey.
There were lots of takeaways from The Power of Inclusion Summit. I want to highlight some memorable ones that are helpful knowledge for inclusive leaders. Keep this event on the radar for next year's professional development activities.
Ben Cohen advises us to know what we stand for. Use our values as a beacon for how to proceed in ... More leadership.
Ben Cohen, Co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, discussed the importance of using values as a leadership beacon in conversation with Mary-Frances Winters. Ben & Jerry's values include human rights and dignity, social and economic justice, environmental protection, restoration, and regeneration. More information on those values is available here. Ben also talked about the 30/30/30 rule. He said 30 people will agree with what happens, 30 will take a neutral stance, and the remaining 30 percent will be against it. Consider leveraging this useful barometer to evaluate and land upon the impact we want to make as inclusive leaders. It is a great reminder that leaning into one's values can help decision-making and navigation in these turbulent times. On a fun note, I also discovered a flavor graveyard for Ben & Jerry's to add to my travel bucket list for Vermont.
Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional School of Law, Kenji Yoshino has a lot of good ... More guidance to navigate the executive orders.
Kenji Yoshino from the NYU Inclusive Leadership Center unpacked the executive orders and gave concrete examples of legal or illegal discrimination. Data is powerful and can support the inclusive leadership journey. The Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging provides a tracker around anti-DEI and pro-DEI cases. Access to this information can bring peace of mind to those worried and need factual information to continue inclusion work and effectively lead against challenges around this work. For example, the tracker highlights 12 cases around diversity training. Reading about these cases will provide the inclusive leader with helpful information for fine-tuning training strategies.
Dr. Sandra Upton discussed Change Management as a strategy to improve workplace culture. She advised us to embrace our roles as change agents in our organizations. The reframing helps inclusive leaders get traction on the work needed. Dr. Upton introduced a DEI Propel Framework to help leaders implement transformational change that sticks.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Says He's Nearing a Possible Deal With Harvard
President Trump said his administration was 'working closely' with Harvard University and could announce a deal within the next week. The White House and Harvard have been locked in battle since late March. Trump has pulled billions in federal funds over antisemitism and DEI concerns, tried to block Harvard's ability to enroll international students and threatened its tax-exempt status. Harvard has sued the administration, saying the government has violated its First Amendment rights.
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Wall Street Journal
How DEI Investing Has Changed Under Trump
While companies such as Target have blamed DEI backlash for lower sales, others, such as Costco , are seeing boosts to foot traffic. So how can companies' DEI commitments affect investors with a socially conscious approach to investing? In this bonus episode of WSJ's Take On the Week, we are joined by Rachel Robasciotti, founder of investment firm Adasina Social Capital. She discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion efforts, particularly in light of the Trump administration's crackdown. 🎧 Listen to the podcast here, or watch the video above.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Beware ‘belonging' — the sneaky word companies use to keep up their DEI discrimination
Since President Donald Trump took office in January and announced his intent to dismantle divisive diversity, equity and inclusion policies nationwide, many companies leaped to claim that they, too, have rejected the once-trendy movement. But in truth, a large number are not actually ending their DEI activities — they're simply rebranding them with the pleasant-sounding term 'belonging.' Workplace DEI policies base hiring, promotions and other key decisions solely on race, gender and sexual orientation. Such discriminatory practices are illegal — and harmful, prioritizing a person's immutable characteristics over his or her hard work and achievements. But for the committed woke activists burrowed into countless HR departments, the power to push identity politics on everyone around them is hard to give up. That's why my organization, Consumers' Research, predicted this widespread rebranding maneuver about a year ago, when public backlash against DEI began gaining momentum. In fact, 'belonging' is one of the words we suggested companies might use, after it got a test-run on many college campuses. The only surprise is just how many corporations are taking the same lockstep approach to the effort. Kohl's, for example, declared in March that it had dropped DEI from its messaging. But in fact the company just swapped out its 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion' web page for an 'Inclusion and Belonging' page instead. Michelle Banks, Kohl's former chief DEI officer, is still there doing the very same work — now under her new title of Chief Inclusion and Belonging Officer. For Kohl's, DEI has not waned, merely disguised itself. Amid pressure from Trump, insurance company Nationwide removed all mentions of DEI from its website and rolled out the phrase as 'Belonging, respect and fairness' in its place. But despite shedding its skin, DEI's vital organs are very much present there, including Nationwide's Associate Resource Groups that 'offer allyship' based on race. Disney has been attempting to camouflage its former DEI webpage with the same 'belonging' fig leaf — but still publishes 'workforce' and 'content' representation data broken down by race and sex. That drew the notice of the Federal Communications Commission, which has launched an investigation into Disney's DEI programming. 'I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,' wrote FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Trump has made it crystal clear that discriminatory practices like DEI must be swept from our public institutions, and he has directed federal departments to identify private-sector targets for enforcement action. Understandably, C-suite executives are eager to avoid potential litigation — and are all too aware that consumers have become weary of DEI-obsessed corporations' efforts to appease woke activists. But too many of these companies are trying to have it both ways, either because corporate officers remain committed to the morally bankrupt DEI ideology, or because they're still intimidated by leftist employees or left-leaning activist organizations. Ultimately, the motivation behind the cowardice doesn't matter: It's an insult to the intelligence of consumers, shareholders and public officials for companies to imagine that a mere DEI name change is going to be enough. Are they so arrogant to believe they can fool the American public with a cosmetic cover-up? It looks that way. DEI, by 'belonging' or any other name, is still divisive, discriminatory and often outright illegal. Corporate America needs to stop trying to deceive its customers, and start focusing on expunging radical political ideologies from businesses that serve Americans of all ideological persuasions. Consumers also have a role to play. We must let companies know we won't stand for these deceptive antics by withholding patronage from businesses that use our hard-earned dollars to advance DEI and other manifestations of extreme wokeness. Only after they make real and substantive changes should we let them off the hook. Finally, any CEO who knowingly continues to oversee the deliberate violation of federal civil-rights laws should be on notice: Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the relentless culture warrior who now heads the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice, is an excellent lawyer. She may be reaching out soon. Will Hild is executive director of Consumers' Research.
