A heated debate about DEI might be missing the point
There’s no doubt that everyone’s talking about DEI right now. But are they asking the right questions?
Not according to Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. At the Fortune Impact Initiative conference earlier this week, he weighed in on the current state of workplace inclusion, and fears over DEI rollbacks. That may be a reality, but he says it obscures a bigger point.
“Why aren’t we asking why the majority of people in the C-suite happen to be white men? Why is that not the right question to be asking? Why aren’t we asking why companies decided to adopt ESG and D&I without actually tying it to performance? Those should be the questions we should be asking, as opposed to, why is a company taking a step back from D&I?”
Over the last few months companies including Harley Davidson, Lowe’s, John Deere, and Ford all reeled back their inclusivity initiatives amid a cultural backlash, and anti-DEI activists like Robby Starbuck have become mainstream personalities. DEI is actually widely popular among the U.S. workforce, but CHROs across the country have been caught up in hand wringing about how to defend their diversity initiatives amid increased scrutiny.
David urged employers to confront the systemic inequalities that necessitate DEI programs to begin with—women and people of color have been locked out of professional opportunities for centuries. That issue is reflected in the faces of C-suite leadership today, and continues to be a pervasive issue. As of 2024, only 10% of all Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
“We have to shift and change the narrative as we talk about these issues, because it still is a problem that women are not leading most of the Fortune 500 companies. And in fact, we only have two black women,” Alphonso said. “Think about that. Why is that not the right question in this moment? That’s what I think we should be talking about.”
You can read more must-read takeaways from Fortune Impact Initiative conference here, here, here and here.
Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com
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