Corporate diversity’s supposed fall has been overblown

Over the last week, diversity practitioners have pointed with indignation to Elon Musk’s denunciation of DEI on X—claiming that “DEI must Die” and criticizing it as “morally wrong” propaganda—as further evidence that CEOs and corporate America more broadly are not committed to diversity. To be sure, the days of corporate America’s rabid hiring of chief diversity officers are well behind us, thanks to a DEI retrenchment over the last two years and decreased chatter over its importance. 

But by and large, I’d argue the despondency over DEI’s fate is overblown. (And as it pertains to Musk’s comments, it’s important to consider the messenger.) 

Let me explain.

Yes, chief diversity officers have troublesomely low tenures, which can be attributed to the relative newness of the function, a mismatch of success metrics between CEOs and CDOs, and a lack of understanding during 2020’s frenzied hiring of what exactly the role does.

In my past life, I served as the editor-in-chief of The Filament, a newsletter publication catering to diversity practitioners. 

While most of our subscribers were in the DEI field, many were CEOs who desperately needed to augment their grasp of a newly established function or one that might have existed but had primarily been compliance-driven. What skills should effective DEI officers have? How should they define success for the role? How could they align DEI work with overarching business goals? These were just some of the questions CEOs had to contend with.

One could easily point to the shrinking of DEI teams and budgets as evidence of companies’ noncommittal approach to diversity work in 2023. Fair—and it’s understandably cast a pall over the industry. But many functions saw their roles diminished as companies braced for a recession that failed to materialize: HR and recruiting, marketing, communications, and even tech roles that have long been considered recession-proof, like software engineers.

Now, I’m not being pollyannaish and fully understand that in a long list of business priorities that require financial investment, DEI is far from the top. But in more organizations than not, it is on the list and is buoyed by legislative requirements, rapidly changing customer and workforce demographics, and, lest we forget, a quick approaching deadline to the five-year diversity commitments many companies made post-George Floyd.

As I look into my 2024 crystal ball, I foresee the continued “stabilization” of the diversity function. Many new entrants to D&I in 2020 were more activists than they were business operatives, and while there’s certainly room for the former, DEI, like any C-suite function, is meant to enhance business performance, requiring strategic operational chops. (Hence, why many companies are now tapping former COOs for CDO roles.)

I don’t want to make light of or trivialize the challenges that come with holding a CDO title, but the role’s permanency will require diversity heads to more deliberately and proactively position themselves and their work as part of an asset model rather than a deficit. And for what it’s worth, I’m certain the increasingly charged 2024 election cycle will provide plenty of opportunities to do just that.

I want to hear from you! What trends do you see on the horizon in 2024?

RaceAhead will be on break through Jan. 1. Happy holidays and see you next year.

Ruth Umoh
@ruthumohnews
[email protected]

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The Big Think

New York Times opinion editor James Bennet stepped down in 2020 following uproar over an opinion article penned by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) Calling for military use against civil unrest. 

In a 17,000-word opus published in The Economist, Bennet details the frantic days leading up to his resignation, explains why he doesn't regret his decision to publish Cotton's op-ed, urges the need for truth-seeking journalism, and decries the dogmatism and intolerance that he believes plague today's media industry.

"Opinion journalism that never causes pain is not journalism. It can’t hope to move society forward." It's a worthy weekend read.