Corporate America Should Spare “D” in DEI As They Dismantle DEI in Trump Era

Nations rise on leadership, and one man or one woman can transform a nation. Yes, you always get the argument that NO one person can change a country. Fair, but if you check histories, greatest moments have always started when one person leads and others follow. That is how it works in families, communities, companies and nations.

The upcoming Trump 2.0 Presidency is already reshaping corporate America as companies change alliances for new market positioning. Trump is going to be the big boss, and everyone wants to FOLLOW his footsteps because it is about winning in the market here, values or not!

The Meta which did all to align with Biden by even hiring a British politician to run its policy desk has since fired the guy, and is now assembling MAGAs. But it is not stopping there:

“In a striking departure from years of emphasizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), tech giants Meta and Amazon have taken bold steps to scale back their DEI initiatives. These moves, unveiled in separate announcements, reflect a broader trend across corporate America as companies grapple with public scrutiny, political pressure, and legal challenges. Once champions of progressive workplace policies, Meta and Amazon’s pullbacks mark a significant ideological shift in corporate culture, signaling alignment with growing conservative criticism of so-called “woke” ideologies.”

But what if I posit that destroying DEI  (diversity, equity and inclusion) is premature. Diversity is not a fiat policy and the quest for DEI emanated because the market is imperfect. Look deeper, exclusion has been the stable state for centuries. In most top 10 universities in America, they have Admission events in China, Europe, etc but rarely visit Africa or black colleges in America for recruitments.

DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It’s a philosophy and set of practices that aim to create a more inclusive and just society.

Diversity: The variety of differences among people, including their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, and more. Recognizing that everyone has unique skills and experiences.

Equity: Ensuring that everyone has the resources and opportunities they need to succeed
Recognizing that talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.

Inclusion: Welcoming and valuing people for their unique contributions. Ensuring that everyone feels included and has a sense of belonging. Creating environments where people can share their ideas and perspectives.

DEI can apply to many different contexts, including the workplace, schools, and communities.

As a student in Johns Hopkins, I volunteered to go to black colleges so that those students would apply. I served in the school’s diversity committee and within years, the number of black PhDs increased, not because of reduction of standards, but at least awareness of the opportunities in the school.

So, it could just be: META, go to black colleges like Morgan State, Clark Atlanta, Tueskegee, etc for a recruitment event, just as you are going to MIT, JHU, Caltech, Stanford, etc. If someone sees that as bad, that is unfortunate. When we talk of diversity, we are talking of pipelines, and most times it is nothing but awareness. But to improve on those pipelines, you have to see the D in DEI.

That is certainly unfortunate because asking companies and universities for FAIR opportunities for all is not woke. I write this at a personal level.

When I joined Johns Hopkins University, I was the only Black student in the PhD engineering program. I asked the school management to fund me to visit historical black colleges to tell them about the opportunities. They funded that and added me to the diversity committee. Within years, they recruited many Black PhD students as applications surged.

That is certainly unfortunate!

Comment on Feed

Comment: Nobody is asking for preferential treatment. People are asking for access to information and equal opportunity to compete. I don’t understand how this is a big deal.

My Response: when you ask, it is seen as being woke because you are changing the stable state of exclusion. When an ex-founder of OpenAI was starting a company, I publicly asked him to make space for $5m for the Tekedia Capital community. They ignored us. Imagine if he has a D in DEI, he could have give us the opportunity. This is not about changing standards, it is about access. And that is not woke because we will still send him USD. If Ilya Sutskever wants that money, we will wire at the same valuation he raised last.

I do not see why companies will dismantle that effort to provide access to people who have been consistently cut-out.

My Response: “The reason why there was a lot of push back on “Diversity” is because it became a discriminatory term against others.” – can you cite two examples please? But let me tell you, the people who are campaigning that diversity is woke entered universities through legacy admission. Most top US schools reserve 20% of slots for children of the wealthy and connected. Those same people hate when those schools admit 2% as Latinos and Blacks but want the legacy to stand.

These people believe that legacy admission is vital as their grandparents funded the schools and possibly they need to be encouraged to fund as they expect their own kids to be given preference over yours.  There is no evidence that diversity brings unqualified people even though we know that legacy admission admitted below average students but no one has called it woke!

*Legacy admissions is a college practice that gives preferential consideration to applicants who are children of alumni. 

The Great Corporate Retreat: Meta and Amazon Lead the Shift Away from DEI Programs

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