Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways DEI isn’t about optics anymore; it’s about how leaders use power every day.
Inclusive leadership drives better thinking and long-term performance.
When belonging is real, people stop playing safe and start doing their best work.
People keep telling me “DEI is over,” as if a headline has more power than the people inside the business. From where I sit — as a woman, a psychologist and an executive coach — DEI isn’t dying; it’s finally growing up. The checkbox version is what’s collapsing.
This shift is driven by a younger, more diverse generation that would rather walk away than stay in cultures that only tolerate them; by customers and investors who pay attention to how you, as a leader, treat people, not just what you sell; and by global competition, where the companies that innovate fastest are the ones that actually use the full range of their talent.
In that setting, glossy statements, one-off trainings, and heritage month campaigns with nothing underneath them are just another “strategy.”
Related: What Every Entrepreneur Can Learn from NCAA Coach Dawn Staley’s Leadership Style
The end of performative DEI
For years, companies treated DEI like an events calendar. A training here, a panel there, a statement when the news got loud. That old playbook relied on optics and urgency, not necessarily on outcomes, and it is the part that is fading. Today, employees expect transparency. Customers and employees compare what you “promote” online with what they actually experience. Under that level of scrutiny, performative moves fall apart.
... continue reading