Start/Stop. Boom/Bust

I have had an epiphany.

Who knew that working to build:

- Increased creativity and innovation,

- Employee engagement,

- Accessing the best talent,

- Better problem solving,

- Improved business results,

- Fairness and equity,

- Competitive advantage

- Company reputation

And more….. is start/stop work. Boom or bust?

Let me explain.

When I first started working in Diversity & Inclusion, I was so excited. I have never worked for an organisation that had a dedicated leader doing this work. And then I realised that:

a) One person in a VERY large organisation can only impact so much, as evidenced in our gender stats (the only thing we were measuring) were going backwards.

b) The only reason we had this one dedicated role was for compliance and public reporting requirements

c) There was no budget to implement anything, not that you always need budget, but, and

d) The CEO at the time didn’t care about this work, and I wasn’t allowed to speak to him anyway 😔

Bust 😭

And then…….

In 2020 a poor black man called George Floyd was murdered by the police. For nothing. And then there was a pandemic.

All of a sudden CEO’s around the world were scrambling to throw money at the massive gaps in their organisations in actually doing anything in Diversity & Inclusion. Budgets were created. Diversity & Inclusion leaders were appointed and employed. Plans were approved. Boards jumped up and down.

Boom 💥

And then…….

This year Donald Trump returned to the US presidency with the goal of dismantling (and achieving) Diversity & Inclusion initiatives within the federal government and more broadly in the private sector. This has included terminating federal DEI programs, redefining sex as only male or female, targeting gender identity policies, ending "illegal" discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunities. And more.

Not only has this impacted the US, but has extended to other countries including Australia and New Zealand, giving permission to political leaders to become “mini” trumps. Luckily the democratic process sorted one of those out in Australia.

It has also impacted organisations pulling back on budgets, removing Diversity & Inclusion roles, renaming the work and scaling back on goals and KPIs.

Bust 🙄

The thing is this work is about building sustainable businesses through productive work cultures. It’s about:

- Increased creativity and innovation,

- Employee engagement,

- Accessing the best talent,

- Better problem solving,

- Improved business results,

- Fairness and equity,

- Competitive advantage

- Company reputation

All of this is about boom. About being successful. About driving revenue. About being profitable.

And for the long term sustainability of your business.

What organisation wouldn’t want this? What leader is not being measured on revenue and profit?

Lisa xx