Who Controls Your DEI Story? Lessons From McKinsey & Co-Op

When you own your DEI narrative. People will insult you online.?

That criticism is about them, not you.

Before we get to that.

Here are 3 popular posts from the last week:

Amri B. Johnson is one of the most prolific voices in the inclusion space.

Don’t be fooled by the headline.

This isn’t the real story.

For 10 years, McKinsey have fuelled the hype around the business case for diversity.

Co-Op has a compelling DEI story.

But they left out the best part.

Please don’t make this mistake.

Share this with one of your colleagues who needs to know this.

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When you own your DEI narrative. People will insult you online.

- They will shame you for not adopting their ideas.

- They will attack you for not doing what they want.

- They will misrepresent your words to score points.

But here’s what matters:

That criticism is about them, not you.

If you’re:

- Getting buy-in from colleagues

-?Focused on measurable results

-?Implementing a systematic process

You will be delivering what we call High Impact Inclusion Work.

This means you will:

-?Get buy-in for your work.

-?Deliver results that matter.

-?Consistently make progress.

This is what we do with our clients.

Everything else is a distraction.

(I talk about High Impact Inclusion Work in more detail here)

Here I want to focus on the first point: Getting buy-in from colleagues

I want to be clear here:

This is an observation from outside of the company.

We’re using secondary sources as evidence.

Therefore it’s not a comprehensive review.

We’re using them to illustrate a point.

Please make your own mind up.

Don’t be fooled by the headline. This isn’t the real story.

In a recent Bloomberg article called “McKinsey Champions Diversity While Rivals Abandon Targets”

Global Managing Partner?told staff that they pledged to prioritise diversity across its workforce.

This is important because the article says:

- Booz Allen Hamilton

- Goldman Sachs

- Accenture

Are doing the opposite.

Don’t be fooled by the headline. This isn’t the real story.

But it is a masterclass in owning your narrative and finding your own business case for DEI.

The article avoids the elephant in the room.

For 10 years, McKinsey has fuelled the hype around the business case for diversity.

McKinsey doesn’t just report on the business case for diversity: they sell it.

They’ve done an excellent job. Their reports are famous.

There are 4 I’m aware of:

2015 - Why Diversity Matters

2018 - Delivering Through Diversity

2020 - Diversity Wins : How Inclusion Matters

2023 - Diversity Matters Even More : The Case for Holistic Impact

The reports have become so influential that a lot of “DEI experts” just repeat the headlines.

They don’t critically engage with them.

They certainly don’t read them.

To say “McKinsey Champions Diversity” is an understatement.

McKinsey are synonymous with the business case for diversity.

I suspect that their reports have generated millions for their business.

Suppose you accept that. Suppose you accept what I just said.

A U-turn now would be devastating.

It would undermine 10 years of strategic positioning.

Their stance isn’t just about DEI. It’s about protecting their credibility.

They can’t afford to change their position, even if their reports face mounting scrutiny.

And by the way: their reports are facing a lot of scrutiny.

- Their findings are being dismantled

- Their analysis is being exposed

- Their claims are falling apart

I’m not a fan of how they are misrepresented and misquoted.

It’s contributed to inadequate mainstream DEI practices.

But if integrity means your words and actions are aligned.

In this context, they have it.

McKinsey & Company understand their business case for diversity.

It’s specific to their organisation. It serves their interests.

This is what I tell you to do.

Without needing to please random people on the internet.

You’ve heard me say that one of the 3 Biggest Problems organisations experience on their inclusion journey is Performance.

Organisations struggle to articulate a business for diversity for THEIR specific organisation.

- Not what the research says

- Not what social media says.

- Not what your DEI guru says

What do you say?

Why is diversity relevant in your specific organisation using everyday language that people you work with can understand?

It’s clear to me that McKinsey have done this.

If you worked at McKinsey would you understand why you need to keep supporting the idea of the business case for diversity. Even if it was unpopular for a while?

The narrative is so powerful no one is paying attention to the demographic composition of their business.

They’ve defined their business case.

The real question is: Have you defined yours?

Co-Op has a compelling DEI story, but they left out the best part.

In a recent Guardian article, the CEO of Co-op said: “We will continue to champion fairness having seen the benefits.”

That’s the good news.

The bad news? She didn’t say what those benefits were.

At least, not in the article.

That would have been SUPER helpful.

It’s literally in the subtitle but goes unmentioned.

It’s not enough to say what you did. (They didn’t.)

It’s important to say why. (They tried.)

Remember:

One of the 3 Biggest Problems organisations face on their inclusion journey is Performance.

They struggle to explain what terms like DEI mean in their organisation.

This is what defines the “why.”

Co-op has a compelling DEI story.

They have a clear ‘why’, but they didn’t articulate it well.

They left out the best part.

Please don’t make this mistake yourself.

In 1844, Equitable Pioneers Cooperative Society was formed in Rochdale.

This is considered the start of the modern co-op movement.

They popularised the idea of returning profits to members based on purchases.

It’s not difficult to describe “returning profits to members” as an equitable practice.

Lets get more specific

When we think of equity. We think of organisational justice.

Here I’m thinking of Distributive Justice.

This is concerned with how you allocate resources.

(I talk about Distributive Justice in more detail here).

It’s useful to think of equity as ensuring that outcomes are “fair” in terms of inputs or contributions.

In this example.

Members receive profits based on the size of the purchases they make.

Therefore resources are allocated based on purchases.

Some will receive more than others.

But their purchases, inputs and contributions are deemed larger.

It’s therefore proportional.

Some would describe this as fair and equitable.

This was an equitable practice long before DEI was even a term.

Fairness has always been baked into their business model.

None of this was clear from the article.

Nor was it clear what benefits they’ve achieved.

They’ve got a clear ‘why’.

But what have they actually done?

It’s unclear in the article.

This is still better than most.

What’s this got to do with you?

You need both: the why and the what.

If you don’t have either, you risk being ignored.

McKinsey and Co-op both claim to champion DEI. But their approaches are different.

And by the way.. that’s the point. It should be different.

McKinsey has mastered its narrative.?For a decade, they’ve linked their brand to the business case for diversity, making it inseparable from their credibility and commercial strategy.

Even as their findings face scrutiny, they own their position because they’ve defined their stance clearly.

No one’s even questioning their results.

Co-op, on the other hand, has a strong foundation but a weak articulation.

Their principles of fairness and equity are embedded in their history. But in a time when DEI is under attack, vague statements about "the benefits" aren’t compelling.

I was left asking, what benefits have you received?

They missed the opportunity to provide clear, measurable results that justify their position.

You don't have to.

What This Means for You

If you want to build inclusion into your organisation in a way that lasts, you need both:

A clear why – The deeper reason inclusion matters in your organisation.

A clear what – The measurable impact as evidence your version of inclusion is effective.

If you can’t clearly explain why inclusion matters in your business and back it up with results. You are at risk.

If you want to receive a weekly brief designed to help you do this.

Sign up for The Inclusion Ready Leader’s Brief.

Every week, I will send one actionable briefing that helps you:

- Earn the trust of your colleagues.

- Optimise for Measurable Results

- Implement a Systematic Process

Each brief combines real-world insights and practical tools to help you achieve measurable results.

Join 1,329 Inclusion Ready Leaders who are using this in their workplace.

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Think about who needs to know this.

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As always

I’m cheering you on.

Dr. Jonathan

PS.

Here’s a message I got this week.

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