The writing has been on the wall for some time, and now we see big changes in DEI. Tractor Supply, Microsoft and John Deere have all taken a new stance on the subject.
Tractor Supply and John Deere claim they’ll focus on their customers and avoid DEI distractions, while Microsoft states their business has changed.
What do the three have in common?
They all failed to properly implement DEI.
None of them are taking accountability for their DEI mishaps.
As a result, they are all casting it aside as if it never happened.
At FIG, we say this a lot: there’s a difference between DEI and wokeness. These companies should discard wokeness, but because they don’t holistically understand DEI and their commitments are shaky, it's easy to view it as an unworthy distraction and toss it in the trash.
The problem is that they’re chucking out the wrong thing, and in 10 or 20 years, we'll still be talking about diversity (or the lack of it) and how to properly address it.
Wokeness has to go. It's the root of all of this. DEI is good for business but requires companies to create a DEI strategy. We believe they are making huge mistakes by casting it aside instead of revising it.
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