What the DEI Backlash in the US Can Teach the Rest of Us
As a DEI consultant who’s worked with organisations across regions and sectors, I’ve seen a familiar pattern: teams reaching for US-style “best practice” in the hope it will shortcut their way to inclusion. But what if some of those best practices weren’t actually that effective to begin with?
And what if the model so many have looked to, the US DEI industry, hasn’t just stalled, but imploded?
Let’s be clear: in my outsiders opinion, what’s happening in the US right now isn’t the failure of DEI, it’s the result of a rising tide of fascism. DEI is being attacked not because it didn’t work, but because it started to. Because it challenged the status quo. Because it dared to redistribute power.
But that doesn’t mean we should ignore the lessons.
The US DEI Bubble
The American DEI industry exploded in the wake of 2020. Billions were invested. Chief Diversity Officers were appointed. Bias training and ERGs were rolled out at scale.
But much of it was built on shaky ground.
Unconscious bias training became the default move. Despite mounting research showing limited impact, organisations clung to it, often as a way to avoid the harder work of changing systems.
Chief Diversity Officers were appointed with big announcements and tiny budgets. Too often, they were the only person of colour in the executive team, expected to fix decades of inequity without a team or resources.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), instead of being one piece of a broader inclusion strategy, became the only place where culture change was expected to happen. Burnout, fragmentation, and resentment followed.
These efforts weren’t malicious. But they were insufficient. They made DEI look busy, without making organisations meaningfully more equitable.
And when the political winds turned, when conservative movements needed a new culture war target, DEI was easy to pick off. It was visible, symbolic, and often disconnected from core business strategy. The result? A widespread rollback. Layoffs. Budget cuts. Silencing.
So What Do We Do With This?
We learn.
We ask what went wrong, not with the values of DEI, but with the execution.
And we rebuild with more integrity, strategy, and staying power.
What Actually Works
In my work globally, I’ve seen organisations avoid these pitfalls by doing the harder, slower, more sustainable work:
Embedding DEI into leadership development, not tacking it on as a side project.
Distributing accountability so inclusion isn’t outsourced to one person or one team.
Linking progress to power, budget, decision-making, promotions.
Listening deeply and redesigning systems, rather than fixing individuals.
This isn’t flashy events and visually appealing posters. It’s not always headline-worthy. But it sticks.
Let’s Rethink “Best Practice”
Borrowing from the US made sense when it felt like they were ahead. But now, we need a different lens.
We can honour the work of our US colleagues, many of whom are fighting back in dangerous conditions, without repeating the mistakes of a system that left DEI vulnerable in the first place.
Because this work has always been political. And if we want it to survive, we have to stop treating it like a PR campaign and start treating it like the structural transformation it’s meant to be.
Over to You
What’s one thing you’ve seen done differently, whether here or globally, that we could build on?
Let’s make this a conversation. Drop a comment or message me. Let’s move beyond “best practice” and toward practices that actually work.
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