👋 Let's talk about DEI in 2023. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in ‘23. But in order to do that, we have to start with 2020.
What do you remember about 2020? Because that is what kicked all of this off. I'll tell you what I remember. I remember reading countless press releases from companies promising to do better about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
I remember the Black Fists and the Black Boxes posted on Instagram. And I remember reading an article that said, from June until December of 2020, corporations pledged over $50 billion in commitments, with a good majority of them, meaning over 85% of them had commitments that they were going to have major milestones accomplished by the end of 2023 this year.
Even though we had an absurd amount of promises, less than 45% of these companies have DEI strategies. But the ones that do have real strategies and real performance evaluations in place. What that means is that a lot of the relationships, a lot of the contracts that many companies have been able to rely on over the past several decades are going to change.
Because now diversity, equity, and inclusion is a part of their performance evaluation. Meaning, if I'm in supplier diversity, and I'm used to just calling up my friend Bob because I know Bob and I've been working with Bob for 10 years and Bob does an OK job and I don't have to look for a new supplier because Bob is already here and Bob makes my life easy.
That's not the case anymore. That supplier diversity professional now has to vet other diverse suppliers. They have to look for a person of color. They have to look for a woman. They have to look for LGBTQ+. They have to look for veterans. That wasn't the case before. Which means, if you are a company that doesn't fall into one of these categories, on top of that, you don't have any sort of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives or official programs, you put yourself at risk to lose contracts.
Because contacts, relationships alone are not going to cut it after 2023. Think about that. Are you ready for DEI after 2023?
If you're not, and it's OK, because over 60% of companies are not. Feel free to set up your discovery call.
If you’re interested in hearing more about what TaChelle has to say about Inclusion, you can book her as a speaker here. If you want to learn more about the Three R’s of DEI, you can download our FREE white paper here.