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If your colleagues hate DEI, maybe you should take MEI more seriously. This article says DEI and MEI are not opposite ends of a spectrum. When a friend shared it with me, my first thought was: "I can't explain what MEI is." Then I realised: I can't explain what DEI is just by looking around either. But I do recognise mainstream DEI practices: Flags, Food, and Fun. Things like: - Parties - Parades - Panel events It’s no secret. I’m not a fan. ----- DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. MEI stands for Merit, Excellence and Intelligence. These are just words. But what about the practice? If your colleagues believe MEI is better than DEI, they probably think: - DEI rewards people without merit. - DEI undermines excellence. - DEI doesn’t care about intelligence. And they’ve probably got an example or two. Do you have a response? I hope it doesn’t include: - Name-calling - Shaming tactics - Emotional pleas Too many people resort to this, and it’s getting tired. ----- This article talks about “levelling the playing field,” but often, that’s translated as equality of outcomes. You need a better explanation. You need to explain DEI in a way that makes sense in your business. - Not what DEI experts say. - Not what social media says. - Not what Anti-DEI voices say. It also means using words that make sense to the people you work with. If your colleagues talk about MEI, maybe you should understand it. At least from their perspective. Can you afford not to? P.S. Part of our evidence-based inclusion practice is engaging the people affected by your decisions. That’s why you don’t ignore things that seem inconvenient.
Yep, the ability to set aside personal biases and engage with challenging perspectives is a critical skill needed today. However, when this skill is lacking—especially in environments with low psychological safety and power imbalances—progress stalls. From what I’m hearing and understanding so far from those using the MEI language is underpinned by the principle of meritocracy being in full existence and enough to progress the economy. Also a strong rejection of any theories or laws that allow positive discrimination (often confused with positive action). An opportunity for us all to stop cancelling and practice more constructive, generative dialogue maybe? ??
Interesting post, and I can scroll down my #LinkedIn timeline and see countless of other #DEI articles crying about the same issues you're crying about. You know the reason why people like me (and many others) are tired of DEI? Because it's a failed experiment ????♂? People are tired of how woke it has become, it's a tick box exercise and I've seen this first hand before I started my company. Here's how it works, you're at a big company and you are implicitly told due to there been a lack of minority hiring we need to make sure we "hire another 5% of more minority staff". You do interviews, and most of the time the best candidate are white, but because we have to meet certain quotas we have to go with the minority candidate who scored the lowest of the interview but the highest in that minority group. In essence, companies are dumbing down the company by hiring incompetent staff just to fit a quota. You sound like a reasonable and smart man, what's wrong with embracing #MEF (merit, excellence and fidelity) a term I coined. I have my own company, and I hire the best candidate based on what I am looking for. Don't care about your background, all I care about is can you do the bloody job ????♂? Forest for the trees ??
If MEI were taken seriously, there would be no need for DEI. MEI breaks down when people gauge qualifications based on skin color, gender, sexual orientation.
I like MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL. Watch and learn how they build teams to win, and follow their best practices to put together a roster. Period. Professional sports.
Always here on point! What is DEI without MEI? I find the idea that supporting DEI means that I ignore merit and intelligence more than a little disrespectful. DEI is nothing if it remains performative and tokenistic.
Thanks for sharing, DEI or MEI, both require #accessibility to create a level playingfield for persons with disabilities. Surely agree, Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence fits better with current leaders in business and politics. The question remains, how do we create equity weighing MEI on a diverse population, because privileged groups claim especially the I in this acronym ??
Thanks for sharing this Dr. Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey - I had no idea what MEI was and hadn't heard this term at all, so thanks for highlighting. And it's definitely an interesting conversation point. Always learning... thank you!
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1 周I didn't look too deeply into MEI, I am glad you did. The question for me is: What are the requirements for merit-based practice? When people have a choice between who they know, have affinity with, and prefer merit is often ascribed without requirements. So perhaps that leads to excellence? If the person hired is mediocre like most people, are they “excellent” because they can do the minimum or because the they perform and produce extraordinary outcomes? And coming to intelligence. I imagine everyone should enter a role with a minimum requirement of what is perceived as competence—is competence=intelligence? As you know, like you, I will continue to anchor on inclusion. It’s evergreen and measurable in a number of ways. And, if there is a turn to MEI similar to the one for DEI years back, I will use it as clients adopt it and its applicable. Otherwise, it occurs to me as a reaction (from those opposed to [whats become of DEI] that is not much different to the reaction to George Floyd and the subsequent delusion and dilution that occurred in the space as a result of a small percentage of ill-informed/ill-prepared actors using the momentum of the zeitgeist to grift. Is’t possible that MEIs its polar opposite cousin?