Listen to the Latest BoardVision
Podcast on DE&I in the Boardroom
and Beyond

What is the role of corporate directors in supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) both inside and outside the boardroom?

Hear the latest BoardVision episode, “The Evolving Nature of DE&I in the Boardroom and Beyond.” Speakers include: Tracy Gee, NACD chief people officer; Cari Dominguez, chair of the NACD Center for Inclusive Governance, former NACD board member, former chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, former assistant secretary with the US Department of Labor; and Natalie Chan, a partner at Sidley Austin.  

Here are some highlights. Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

In the past few years, we've witnessed what seems to be the rise and fall of DE&I. Companies have been backing away from DE&I programs in the wake of widespread attacks from lawmakers and activists. In your opinion, what has led to this tension with DE&I?

Natalie Chan: A lot has happened since 2020…. These were unprecedented times in the middle of a global pandemic. Organizations were really forced to think critically about multifaceted solutions to [questions such as], How do we address these social justice issues? What role do corporations have as they think about solving these problems? There was an intensified interest in DE&I within corporate America at the time, [with] key stakeholders pushing for businesses to address racial inequality and other forms of inequity in the workplace and in boardrooms. At the time, I recall quite clearly having discussions with clients about diversity no longer being a siloed issue….

But with all this forward momentum, the question was, Is this going to stick? … Now we've seen the pendulum swing from that emergence in 2020 to slowly some evolution [through] 2023 and now present day, as DE&I has become a legal issue, a cultural issue, and a political issue, we’ve seen there has been more resistance from lawmakers, critics, and activists that have tried to dismantle these efforts…. All of these challenges pressure tested the resolve of companies who said firmly that they were committed to DE&I. In my view, organizations that had adopted more, I’ll call them, “superficial” or “surface-level” approaches to DE&I may not have been set up for success, and the more integrated and well-resourced DE&I was, the more likely it was to withstand some of these challenges in the last few years.

Cari Dominguez: There have been many reports that have shown that companies … [that] do have a fully integrated approach perform better and outperform their competitors. It's a competitive advantage. It's a business advantage…. This is a key strategic component, a strategic asset, to have this diverse talent and to have a culture of inclusion. I think it has benefited our society. There have been a lot of companies, and I've audited a number of them back in my day, [that] claim they've been doing all these things, then you check under the hood and it's just a lot of words. There's no real integration of these processes and clearing of the pathways.

Then you've got some [companies] under the very political climate that we have. We had greenwashing and now we have “bleachwashing,” which is, companies are somewhat underreporting because they don't want to bring attention to themselves, even though they think it's the right thing to do, but [they] don’t want to be exposed to unnecessary criticism, even as they continue to perform well for their shareholders.

I do think that we're going to have to wait and see what the future is going to bring…. I do think that companies get it; the ones who have done it well will continue to do it, not because it's the moral thing to do, but [because] it is the moral thing to do plus the good business sense thing to do.

Interested in hearing more? The full episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and the NACD website.