“Oh, so you are the diversity hire,” he said as he shook my hand.
I was stunned as I processed what my new coworker had just said.
That comment from a new colleague made me feel the opposite of welcome. I wondered if he had the courage to say out loud what he was thinking about me. He thought I was less qualified to do the job because of the color of my skin.
I had just joined this company to lead a portfolio of products that was in decline. Within a few days of leading this new team, I found out that no one internally had wanted the position. The organization had trouble finding someone to fill the role. The moment I started the job, I was branded a “diversity hire.”
After a few years in that role, I was able to put the business back on a path to achieve double-digit growth. But years later that comment still stings. And that wouldn’t be the last time someone would question my qualifications to do a job I was hired to do.
Unfortunately, it has become common for some conservatives to attempt to discredit, demoralize, and disrespect leaders of color by labeling them “diversity hires”—or otherwise misappropriating the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion as thinly veiled racist insults. Perhaps most poignantly, this is currently happening to Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently received President Joe Biden’s endorsement to be the next Democratic presidential candidate.
The anti-DEI movement
As the backlash against DEI intensifies, the anti-DEI movement has blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for a number of things. Conservatives blamed DEI for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. They also said DEI was to blame for Boeing’s safety crisis, and for the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge. Some even blamed DEI for the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
Now the term DEI is again being weaponized loudly and boldly to insult, demean, and devalue people and their credentials. One recent example: a New York Post op-ed stated, “America may soon be subjected to the country’s first DEI president: Kamala Harris.” The author, FOX Business Network senior correspondent Charles Gasparino, suggests that Harris became Vice President because of DEI and not because of her political track record—which includes being a U.S. senator from 2017 to 2021, and the attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017, where she oversaw the largest state justice department in the country.
In contrast, JD Vance spent 18 months as a senator before Trump picked him to be his vice-presidential running mate.
“You have to look pretty far into history to find a vice-presidential nominee with a slimmer résumé than Vance,” writes Lydia Polgreen in a New York Times article titled “If Kamala Harris Is a D.E.I. Candidate, So Is JD Vance.”
What’s happening to Vice President Harris in the headlines is happening every day in our workplaces. Here’s what you need to know about how the term DEI is being weaponized—and how to interrupt your own bias and stop the term from being used in a harmful way:
Educate yourself on how DEI is being weaponized
By labeling Vice President Harris “the country’s first DEI president,” conservatives like Gasparino attempt to erase her credentials, her experience, and her track record. By using “DEI” to describe her, the implication is that she got where she is only because of her race and gender, not because she earned it. “DEI” is increasingly being used as a harmful, hurtful, and hateful descriptor.
For instance, Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado called White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre a “DEI hire.” And Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott was labeled a “DEI mayor” following the collapse of the bridge in his city. “We know what these folks really want to say when they say DEI mayor,” Scott said in response. “But there is nothing they can do and say to me that is worse than the treatment of my ancestors. I am proud of who I am and where I come from.” Scott has suggested that the term is now being positioned as a racial slur.
You can watch out for how “DEI” is being used in your workplace. Is it used to describe the efforts to make our workplaces more fair and equitable for everyone? Or is it used as a descriptor for an individual, like “the DEI VP” or “the DEI director”? Do you hear colleagues using terms like DEI hire, diversity hire, or token hire in public or private settings? And if you’re honest with yourself, have you also used these labels or had those thoughts in your head?
Interrogate your own biases
According to the Pew Research Center, 61% of employees say their organizations have policies that ensure fairness in hiring, promotions, and pay. And yet we know many pay gaps still exist.
I continue to hear leaders make statements such as, “Well, we all know she got that job because she’s a woman.” Or “They needed a DEI hire in that role.” And “I’m all for diverse talent, as long as they are good.”
As I discuss in my book, Reimagine Inclusion, we must challenge the underlying assumption that we lower the bar for “diverse talent” or any talent that doesn’t identify as white. Statements like “I’m all for diverse talent, as long as they are good” reveal that we have limited access to people who don’t act, think, or look like we do. When we see someone we perceive as “different” in a position of power, do we think they got the role because of DEI efforts? Or do we think they got the role because of their credentials, experience, and track record of success?
That statement—“I’m all for diverse talent, as long as they are good”—implies that diverse talent is worse than nondiverse talent. For instance, would you say “I’m all for nondiverse talent, as long as they are good?” Have you ever thought that hiring white people is lowering the bar?
As leaders, we must spend the time to reflect and interrogate our own biases. We can then start to understand how “DEI” is being weaponized in the headlines, and also in our workplaces. We will then be in a better position to interrupt bias when we see it in action.
Interrupt bias when you see it in action
When we hear colleagues weaponizing the term DEI in the workplace, we should speak up. Here are some examples of responses you can use to intervene:
- “Using words like diversity hire or DEI hire is hurtful and harmful. I know I would be hurt if someone referred to me that way. Can we address her by her name please?”
- “How would you feel if someone said you only got that job because you are a man?”
- “Why would we assume that he is less qualified? Is there something in his background, experience, or credentials that leads you to believe that?”
There may be some cases where junior colleagues model the behavior of senior colleagues and use anti-DEI language without understanding the implications. This is an important opportunity for you to help educate them.
There may also be cases where you know someone is using this language intentionally to hurt someone, and does so repeatedly, even after you have tried to intervene. In this case, it may be best to get both their manager and human resources involved.
We have the power and responsibility to stop the backlash we are seeing against DEI in our workplaces because diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are about creating fair and equitable workplaces for everyone—and ensuring that we all have the opportunity to unlock our potential.
If I could go back in time and speak to that colleague who called me a “diversity hire,” I would correct him. And going forward, I hope no one else—in the White House or otherwise—will be called a “DEI candidate” again.
