By Any Other Name...

You may be familiar with the line from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet that begins, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Well now we are seeing a shift in corporate DEI initiatives to simply call it by another name. The operative question, though, is will it smell as sweet?

Depending on your perspective, you might ask, will it be as focused, or will it drive as much financial inclusion? Your issue may be, will it waste corporate resources, or will it encourage reverse discrimination in the workplace? Alternatively, your concern might be, will it cause as much distraction or be so susceptible to attack by those who don’t share my point of view?

I have another point of view – one that might surprise you.? I think that, as a nation, our history demonstrates that we have more unanimity on DEI than we realize. It may just have been called by another name.

Consider that those who came to these shores on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria in 1492 were refugees seeking political, economic, and religious freedom. Later, in 1886, when the French provided the United States with the gift of the Statue of Liberty, its pedestal was inscribed with her request to “bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” America is a country of freedom and inclusion for those who might not otherwise have either.

Further, as we began to consider improvements to our country’s constitution, we continued a pattern of embracing DEI. Former state of Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams reminded me that, right from the start, the First Amendment, which protected the freedom of speech, religion, and the right to protest and was passed in 1791, ensured inclusion. The 13th and 15th Amendments to the constitution, along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, welcomed African Americans to full citizenship and ensured their rights to participate in our democracy. The 19th Amendment, in 1920, permitted women the right to vote and the 26th Amendment, in 1971, welcomed citizens above the age of 18 to vote as well.

Whether you call it emancipation, suffrage, or simply a full measure of freedom, you could argue that each of these historical leaps forward are forms of that three-letter acronym that some consider controversial today. If you called them by another name, you might call them DEI.

And there’s something else that is important about these historical developments that we should consider and that we’ve all benefitted from. When slavery was abolished in the United States (1865), our country’s Gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately $10 billion. Just 20 years later, when Lady Liberty was set on her base, GDP was $32 billion. When women were provided with the right to vote GDP was $92 billion, when the Voting Rights Act was passed it was $743 billion, and today our nation’s GDP is estimated to be $27 trillion.

One could argue that, as our great country became more and more committed to the principles of DEI – as more people were included in the workforce, as more people were able to access an education, as more of us were able to apply for bank loans and purchase homes, and as more of us were able to participate in the political process - the economy grew. Maybe another name we can call DEI by is "Profitable!"

Contemporary analysis by McKinsey & Company and other respected management consulting firms bears this out. McKinsey studies from 2015 through 2023 highlight that companies who emphasize cultural and gender diversity in their workforce, supplier base, and board room outperform those who don’t. We live in a capitalistic democratic republic so this should matter.

So why are some, all of a sudden, so fearful of including others in our economy? I’m interested in our nation’s continued economic growth and in the robust performance of the companies that I’ve invested in, so I don’t understand what the issue is! (Well, maybe I do, but that’s subject of another article.)

The acronym DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. The 248-year-old experiment that is the US of A proves the hypothesis that diversity is a strength. In business, sports, education, science, and so many other fields we learn from each other, and we grow. Equity reflects opportunity and access to resources. It does not request handouts or hookups. It acknowledges that historically many Americans have been marginalized and excluded and seeks to remedy that by opening the door a little wider to give schools and employers the opportunity to attract the best students and employees. And inclusion just suggests that we should be intentional about doing more of what has worked for America for two and a half centuries.

Nevertheless, of late there is a rush to reposition DEI initiatives and call them Belonging, Cultural Competence, Inclusive Economics, Cultural Awareness, or Accessibility efforts. It seems like misplaced energy to me, but I suppose it’s not my call. DEI, if called by any other name, can still smell as sweet – and be as profitable.

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