DEI is going a lot of blowback. Much of it deservedly so since

• many initiatives are led by people, who’ve never read a dictionary, that confused “opportunity” with “outcome” (and they’re not the same thing at all),
• many initiatives are led by people who are misusing DEI to discriminate against unrecognized groups (specifically, religious minorities, white candidates, etc.), and
• it was so bad in some jurisdictions that it is triggering legal responses (not just board and investor responses).

But ripping it out without a plan or even a thought about the blowback is not a good idea.

First of all,

• a properly defined initiative is NOT illegal, or even immoral,
• not all are being used to illegally discriminate against religious minorities or non-minorities, and
• education can help ensure that a well-defined program is tweaked to be perfectly in alignment with federal and state laws with respect to equal opportunity.

Secondly, just because you’re doing it wrong, doesn’t mean everyone is. As pointed out in this recent opinion article on Supply Chain Dive on how Harley-Davidson’s DEI rollback is a procurement mistake, Harley Davidson’s removal of their support for supplier diversity could be seen as going too far.

And it could be. Ripping out or killing a program that doesn’t work, and then publicly stating that you’re instead going to focus on complying with all state and federal equal opportunity legislation, especially if that’s what customers want is definitely a good thing. (If you’re not convinced, read Jason Busch’s article on why Harley Davidson Dumping Supplier Diversity is more-or-less a good thing.

But you want supplier diversity to the extent there are diverse suppliers that can support your business. It may be your right to buy from who you want, when you want, where you want, and how you want, but if it upsets your supplier base, that’s a problem. Especially if your best suppliers walk away, or, even worse, walk away and sue you. Just like you need happy customers, you need happy suppliers. Plus, a good policy encourages diversity, it doesn’t mandate it when one supplier is inferior to another.

Moreover, even if the DEI program is not working, killing it too fast can also result in customer blowback who might think that you are not about equal opportunity and diversity. It’s a tricky situation, and any action needs to be well thought out, including any potential blowback and how you respond to it in a matter that dispels it before it snowballs.