What Needs to Change About DEI — and What Doesn’t

As DEI faces social, political, and legal backlash, leaders need to take stock of their efforts.

April 09, 2024

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As DEI work faces increasing scrutiny socially, politically, and legally, organizations are taking extra care to re-evaluate their DEI efforts. Leaders are right to consider change, not as a reaction to backlash, but to work toward a more accountable, transparent, and successful vision of what DEI could be. The author identifies three things that need to change: src) Clumsy, jargon-heavy communication, 2) disconnected and decoupled DEI goals and programs, and 3) nonexistent or vanity DEI measurement. They also identify three things that should be maintained: src) Responsiveness to broader society, 2) commitment to healthy organizations, and 3) the belief that we can be better.

Organizations and their leaders have endeavored to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations in one way or another since the mid-src960s, even as the sociopolitical climate around these efforts has fluctuated.

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Lily Zheng is a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist, consultant, and speaker who works with organizations to achieve the DEI impact and outcomes they need. They are the author of DEI Deconstructed: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Doing the Work and Doing it Right.