Trump Nailed It — What Is DEI?

During a tense exchange between Former President and presidential candidate Donald Trump and Ms. Rachel Scott, Senior Congressional Correspondent for ABC News at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference, Trump asked a salient and very relevant question. “What is DEI?” The pause that followed was disheartening.

A movement that has fallen into the abyss of vagueness

Now, lest anyone think I’m throwing shade at Ms. Scott. I am not! However, her reply, “It’s diversity, equity, and inclusion,” was incorrect. And woefully inadequate! Worse, her lack of a coherent definition of DEI played into the hands of a person who enjoys promulgating myths justifying thoughts of African Americans as doing little else than shuffling along looking for handouts from a society of people who have earned all they have received.

Ms. Scott’s reply gave the acronym’s meaning. Nothing more! Which made it easy to construe her reply as lacking. The weight of this unforced error, failing to define DEI in ways that refuted the thinly veiled anti-DEI subtext of Mr. Trump’s question, gave traction to Mr. Trump’s usual pejorative stance, especially when he is confronted by women and people of color. In effect, instead of undergirding the substance of her question, to paraphrase, “Given your multiple comments, taken by many as racist against Black people, why are you here…?” Ms. Scott’s response depicted the same lack of clarity that has allowed others to fill the DEI space with negative connotations and color-coded biases.

The fault of which rests with the DEI movement. As, tragically, the lack of a coherent, concise, compelling DEI definition also fails to give anyone the tools needed to rebuff criticism and predictable aspersions. It’s a gaping hole in the fabric of the DEI movement. The legacy of which stains all who embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion as societal values.

Marketing 101, if you can’t define it, you can’t sell it!

Does anyone remember American Motors? Back in the day, I craved for a Javelin. It was one of AMC’s most iconic “muscle cars.” In the early 70’s the company also came out with a car called the “Matador.” The name was intended to advance the company’s image. Instead, to many Spanish-speaking people, the word matador means something or someone hard, disgusting, and murderous. Therefore, messaging intended to broaden the company’s appeal had the opposite effect. It undermined the broadening of the company’s reach. As does DEI messaging.

Perhaps Ms. Scott didn’t want to get sidetracked and consumed by the DEI debate. After all, DEI has become a quagmire steadily gaining casualties. Opponents of DEI use the acronym to show how others place blame for society’s ills on White people. And many regard DEI in the same way they see Affirmative Action and Critical Race Theory (CRT). It symbolizes efforts to alter, in favor of “others,” well-worn pathways to knowledge and opportunities in ways that displace White people. To a few, DEI seeks to replace White people from their dominant class position within U.S. society, casting aside cultural values, institutional systems, and societal hierarchies.

Therefore, messaging intended to broaden the company’s appeal had the opposite effect.

For years, corporations and other institutions mainstreamed DEI training programs, diversity initiatives, and teachings. Many hired staff and made profound statements about DEI’s value. And though the work also met with resistance in some places, many consultants and teachers found welcoming audiences thirsting for less divisive ways of being. DEI staff, trainers, consultants, and teachers grew rapidly, though some, sadly, were not qualified to do the work. Schools developed DEI programs to teach people how to become employed in the space.

However, the absence of any universal meaning of DEI work, goals, and assessments of success made the application of their teachings and counsel uneven and too often without justification satisfying critics. Outliers using DEI as a “to-do list” checkoff undermined aspirational thinking reinforcing DEI’s need. Treating DEI initiatives and programs as electives, and compulsory, rather than a commitment to a greater good undergirded backlash reverberating in the form of incoherent answers to questions like: What is DEI? What is this for? Why am I here? and many other, less constructive, questions.

Some DEI benefits are not recognized as DEI initiatives

I spent over thirty-five years as a DEI practitioner and never really called my work DEI. Though it assuredly was. As a community college administrator and college/university teacher was to attend to society’s values for getting talent to jobs; to bring critical thinking to collective problem-solving; and to assure an educated citizenry exists to participate in democracy.

Community colleges are open enrollment post-secondary education and training schools, They were conceived as low-cost strategies for educating and training members of U.S. society, whether readying them for the workforce or bridging their preparation for four-year colleges and universities. I never called myself a DEI proponent. I just did my job opening doors for all. And I do mean all! That’s DEI’s promise also!

Democratic candidate for Vice President, Governor Tim Walz (MN) seems very proud of the fact that the GI Bill got him into and through college. So are thousands of other men and women who have served their country. Like it or not, the GI Bill is a DEI initiative. The only qualifier to receive the enormous amount of aid and support provided by the program is military service.

And though implementation of the program has indeed met with some bias, the Veterans Administration tells us “Since 1944, the GI Bill has helped qualifying Veterans and their family members get money to cover all or some of the costs for school or training.” Neither race, ethnicity, religion, gender, nor sexual orientation make a difference in receipt of these benefits. That’s DEI’s goal.

DEI needs an elevator pitch

According to Princeton University’s Center for Career Development, “An elevator pitch is a brief (think 30 seconds!) way of introducing yourself, getting across a key point or two, and making a connection with someone.” The goal is to convey who you are and make what you do interesting and compelling.

You want people to want to know more. You want them to believe that when they join your cause; invest in your venture; or champion your initiative, you will bring added value to their lives. You are not coming at people from on high. This is not a time for pontificating. You are integrating what you do, and what you believe in, with their needs. The goal is to make yourself relevant to their lives, work, and advancement.

You will walk alongside them (figuratively and literally) for just a matter of moments. Your pitch, however, will capture their attention for much longer. It’s not sales, though it is that also. It’s causing them to see and feel how you, and your venture, will add value to their enterprise, journey, and/or opportunity.

Al Fin: My pitch for a DEI pitch

Our failure to connect the dots, when defining DEI, to the fact that DEI is already institutionalized within the U.S. shows how few of us can convey the practical asset DEI is to the nation. To that end, humbly, here’s my attempt at a DEI pitch:

DEI, an acronym for diversity, equity, and inclusion, makes actionable values and expectations found in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence (forming a more perfect union where people are guaranteed certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a country that ensures domestic tranquility). The nation’s long-standing practice of using the world’s talent to advance its economic and cultural priorities has always presented challenges. Today, these challenges are exacerbated by a lack of social cohesion, increasingly dynamic technological interconnectedness, climate change/environmental concerns, cross-geographic interdependencies, and the unparalleled diversity Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) brings to humanity. DEI initiatives, holistically and sustainably, create collaborations to meet these challenges.

How did I do?

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