The buzzwords “diversity, equity, and inclusion” are everywhere right now, but you can’t be blamed if you don’t quite have a handle on what they mean.
The origins of DEI date back to the civil rights era — but recently “DEI” has been thrown around with regard to everything from plane crashes to Super Bowl halftime performances. These business practices are under renewed scrutiny now, thanks to conservative activists and President Donald Trump’s newly enacted policies. That’s something Eric M. Ellis spends a lot of time thinking about.
Ellis is the president and CEO of Integrity Development, a consulting firm that helps businesses with DEI programs. “I think that everybody is looking for a sense of belonging,” he says.
Over the past 30 years, his outlook on implementing DEI in the workplace has changed. “When I started doing this work in the ’90s,” he says, “I thought my job was to be a diversity ghostbuster. I had a formula.” Now he does things differently. “I changed my style from one of blaming and shaming to one of becoming more transparent around my own biases, because I believe that bias is a human condition,” Ellis said.
So how do companies address that bias now? And what does DEI’s future hold? We explore that on this week’s episode of Explain It to Me. You can listen to Explain It to Me on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. If you’d like to submit a question, send an email to askvox@vox.com or call 1-800-618-8545.
What’s your school of thought when it comes to DEI in the workplace?
I ask people: What’s the No. 1 diversity issue in the workplace? And they’ll start brainstorming: “It’s classism or it’s sexism or racism.” And I’ll say, “No. The No. 1 diversity issue in the workplace is the one that affects you.” At the end of the day, I think that everybody is looking for a sense of belonging.
It’s interesting listening to your definition of DEI. It’s very different from what we’re talking about in the news right now. Does DEI getting a bad rap surprise you at all?
No. One of the best ways to get attention is by negativity and sensationalism. So DEI being misrepresented, demonized, or defined in convenient ways doesn’t surprise me. Does that mean that I don’t recognize that there are some opportunities within the space of DEI? I absolutely recognize that, but I don’t think that the people that are going after it the hardest are interested in that. It’s stereotyping the entire industry.
You actually have to evaluate each and every effort to determine if it’s something that’s adding to the business’ bottom line and making it more effective for everybody or if it’s something that’s out of line and needs to be changed or eliminated.
How have you seen DEI efforts evolve over time?