The Shadow Side of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

If you want real DEI, you must abandon coercion and embrace connection

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a natural consequence of emotionally intelligent, unassuming individuals interacting in a free society is a beautiful thing. Given that I highly respect the values of others when they do not interfere with my ability to express and act in accordance with my own, I am able to easily recognize that it is perfectly acceptable to observe that beauty and luxuriate in it. I would be lying if I were to claim that I haven’t experienced these emotions.

I remember a feeling of overwhelming joy when officiating the wedding of one of my closest friends to a woman from the other side of the world. I recall that I was not the only one who observed that the diversity found among the attendees of their reception was intrinsically enjoyable. I also recall a conversation with two highly competent non-commissioned officers that I had the pleasure of working in the 25th ID HHBN S3 shop describing how they were able to quickly and efficiently build connection between Soldiers of different races in basic combat training (BCT) by merely setting the example and providing a simple argument as Drill Sergeants: We are all on the same team. There is no black and white now, we are all green and we depend on each other to put the foolishness of racial prejudice aside. We need to be able to depend on one another to watch our backs and if you don’t let go of this nonsense you can’t expect your teammates who might have a different degree of skin pigmentation to do the same (I’m paraphrasing, this was about 7 years ago). I remember feeling a sense of tremendous pride that I was able to be a part of such an organization as the U.S. Army with such individuals as these, capable of rapidly building connection to overcome a division that some claim to this day will never be surmounted.

There is, however, a shadow side to promoting DEI as a target to be achieved within complex human organizations. This is especially true in bureaucracies such as the Army that have mechanisms of coercion at their disposal to achieve this endstate. While not an official policy in the Army, federal preference for particular demographic characteristics in hiring and contracting have the potential to turn a beautiful consequence of free association into a source of suspicion undermining what ought to be an assumption that merit was responsible for the hiring.

This suspicion has the capacity to destroy the connection that paradoxically is the single most powerful relational factor towards overcoming the race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and disability bias that is (supposedly) omnipresent in the hearts and minds of any who share my particular demographic characteristics, whether conscious or unconscious.

So what is the better approach if you really do enjoy experiencing DEI within your complex organization? I submit to you that practicing the skills that improve your ability to build connection is the most effective course of action. For Army folks this is pretty easy to get after. You need but search out your unit’s Master Resiliency Trainer (MRT) and demand they provide you a class teaching the skills of Assertive Communication and Effective Praise and Active Constructive Responding. If you’re not in the Army it will be a little more challenging, but I encourage you to start by just heading over to YouTube and searching “building connection.” I did so and immediately found this video which revealed a fascinating insight: The 1ID Commanding General MG Sims uses the handwritten note technique recommended by the video. Is he revealing his MRT competency of building connection in doing so? I think he probably is and I for one applaud him for it.

One final note on this issue before I sign off… The traditional understanding of DEI within large bureaucracies with bloated human resource departments is that the target of DEI is external characteristics such as race and gender. After all, in such a complex organization how else could adherence to coercive DEI promoting policies target anything but what is externally identifiable? I argue that the real strength of DEI within an organization is DEI of a wide variety of beliefs, ideologies (including dissident ideologies), and character strengths. This is why I think developing a widespread respect for freedom of expression within the ranks is critical. Put another way, DEI of those with a variety of character strengths within an organization will vastly improve the performance of that organization by leveraging the forces typically reserved for the free market where an active price mechanism enriches those who embrace the utility of the division of labor. (Of important note in this context, it also promotes the building of connection and social cohesion).

Until next time teammates, H2F Man out!