You’ve probably noticed it, maybe you’ve felt it too. A quiet shift, a louder silence, a pulling back.
There was a time (not so long ago) when Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) was front and centre. Conference keynotes, corporate strategies, CEO statements. It felt like momentum. But now?
There’s hesitation. There’s discomfort. In some cases, there’s outright resistance.
And when something starts to feel “political,” we often stop talking about it altogether and in the process, the heart of the work, the real work, has started to get lost.
Beneath the noise, beyond the buzzwords and the backlash, this work still matters. Not just for moral and social reasons, but also for performance, leadership, and long-term business health.
DEI is just good strategy and great leadership
What DEI is not is…..an “initiative”, it’s not performative training, it’s not a quota system or a compliance checkbox or a one-off workshop to “fix” culture and it’s not only about race, gender, sexuality or disability, it’s about people. It’s about creating environments where individuals with all their differences, complexities and lived experiences, can show up fully, contribute meaningfully, and thrive consistently.
At its core, DEI is leadership work. Culture work. Systems work. It’s about making sure the way we hire, manage, listen, reward and lead is fair, inclusive and human.
And the truth is, many businesses are already doing more than they realise.
When we coach our leaders to give better feedback…
When we redesign meetings to hear from different voices…
When we redesign a recruitment process to widen the gate, not lower the bar.…
When we challenge groupthink, nurture trust, and reward on performance not proximity…
That is inclusion work. It just doesn’t always come with a DEI label.
What gets in the way of people doing their best work?
Tim Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Work, defined performance as: Performance = Potential – Interference.
The role of inclusive leadership and culture is to reduce that interference, to strip away the fear of not belonging, to remove the energy spent masking or second-guessing and to tackle bias and rebuild trust, so people don’t have to work twice as hard to be seen.
Because when people don’t have to carry those burdens, they think more clearly, collaborate more freely and perform more consistently.
This is about unlocking potential – at scale.
Where we can align?
Part of a quote I heard from Adam Grant really resonated: “We should be seeking alignment, not agreement” because when we’re looking for people to agree with us, we aren’t creating space for different perspectives, for challenge and for growth, we’re often just seeking comfort and conformity, not progress. We don’t have to agree on everything to work together. What matters more is alignment.
And maybe that’s what the DEI conversation needs right now – not more debate, but more alignment.
Can we align on wanting our people to feel safe, supported and able to succeed?
Can we align on wanting better decisions, broader thinking, and higher performance?
Can we align on building cultures that don’t just tolerate difference but benefit from it?
If so, we don’t have to make this harder than it needs to be. We can embed inclusion into the ways we already lead, we can fold it into strategy, not sit it beside it and we can keep learning, sometimes imperfectly, but always intentionally.
This work isn’t about ticking boxes. It’s about building better businesses.
Yes, the landscape is shifting and yes, some conversations feel more charged than they used to but that’s not a reason to retreat, it’s a reason to evolve.
We don’t need louder statements right now, we need quieter courage, and we need businesses and leaders who are willing to hold complexity, make space for difference, and build cultures that work for more people and not just the majority.
So, if you’re feeling the tension… you’re not alone. If you’re unsure how to keep momentum going… you’re in good company and if you’re wondering whether this work still matters… it does, more than ever.
Beyond the buzzwords and the backlash, there is real value, there is real impact and there is still real work to do. Inclusion isn’t a distraction from performance, it’s one of the clearest paths to it.
By Zara Sloane
Zara is guesting Blogging for us this month as one of our Sustainable Xperts. Get in touch if you would like a chat to learn more.