What chief diversity officers get wrong when arguing DEI’s business case

Hold up a finger if you’ve heard this phrase or even used it to garner internal support for DEI efforts: “The U.S. will soon be minority-majority.” Raise another finger for this refrain: “Diversity leads to better innovation.” This one? “Diverse teams have higher productivity and greater bottom-line impact.”

Sure, all of these statements are research-backed and repeatedly proven to be accurate, but generalized assertions do little to tie DEI initiatives to high-priority business objectives. That’s particularly problematic at a time when the corporate DEI function is facing legal, political, and financial threats.

It’s not enough to pound one’s fist, extolling DEI’s overarching importance through an altruistic lens. Today’s diversity heads must make clear how creating an inclusive and equitable workplace contributes to increased profits within their organization. Crucially, chief diversity officers must position themselves as both business leaders and change agents, rather than preachy corporate influencers, as the fight to dismantle DEI draws on.

Support for DEI ebbs and flows, as seen in recent years. All told, the diversity heads best able to ride out the current headwinds are those who can concretely demonstrate how they’re driving a true business impact through their work. That requires specificity and measurable outcomes.

The data tells all. There was a 55% increase in DEI corporate roles from June to August 2020, with leading corporations pledging some $12 billion to racial equity. That era was short-lived. DEI roles slowly vanished by 2022, and between 2021 and 2023, C-suite support for DEI efforts fell by 18%, according to a report by Seramount, a workplace research firm that serves more than half of Fortune 100 companies.

Diversity leaders now find themselves hitting a roadblock because their “conventional business case statements are all abstract in their connections to corporate profits,” according to Seramount. And they aren’t sufficient in convincing key stakeholders to invest in DEI amid market volatility, new leadership disruption as CEO turnover skyrockets, ongoing legal attacks, or mergers and acquisitions. 

Seramount’s report offers several examples of how to turn business case generalizations into data-heavy statements tailored to your respective organization. For example, instead of, “The United States will be majority-minority in 50 years,” a better framework is, “We increased our market share by 5% through selling more Black-owned beauty brands.” See additional examples in Seramount’s report.

Ruth Umoh
@ruthumohnews
ruth.umoh@fortune.com

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