True Colours – Why values and words matter in the age of anti-diversity

Three writers on why the Trump administration’s attempts to deny discrimination, and write anyone who isn’t a wealthy, straight, white man out of American history, cannot be allowed to succeed. 

True colours

It’s a Friday morning in south east Wales. The weekend looms and signs that Spring is springing are all around. Life is good. In this moment. At this time. And relax.

Nature is a beautiful thing. Delicate yet resilient, beautiful yet brutal. An ecosystem that thrives on diversity. We humans could learn a thing or two from nature, especially when it comes to diversity.

Now let’s set this against the backdrop of recent events across the pond where the US administration seems hell bent on culling cultures, gutting genders, and eroding ethnicities. In short, Trump wants DEI to DIE!

Suddenly I’m not so relaxed. Diversity is facing adversity like never before. And it’s not just the government on the attack. Corporate America is weighing in and flexing its muscles too. For some, things like DEI and ESG have been a convenient mask to hide behind. A way of masquerading as good corporate citizens. But the mask is slipping and we’re starting to see their bad and ugly sides.

Are we seeing the emergence of a new superpower? The United States of Amnesia, where it’s forgotten its diverse heritage and roots, and upholds some sort of distorted vision that’s more like an American nightmare than a dream.

It’s said you can judge a person’s true character and values by how they act when they think no one is looking. Or if they think they’ve been given permission to be their true selves. So even though current world events are signalling permission to many, don’t be fooled into thinking that no one is watching. We see you and history is watching!

This is the time where values are being tested. Are they just words on a poster on your office wall or website? Or are they beliefs that are embedded in who you are? Posters can be easily torn down and policies ripped up. But values live in people, not businesses. They build strong cultures and behaviours. Businesses are driven by strategy.  And you know what they say about culture, right? Culture eats strategy for breakfast!

Talking about breakfast, I’m off to have mine.

Mark Waite – is co-founder at Cohesive

 

In sharp contrast

Walmart | Accenture | Google | GlaxoSmithKline

Like for like, can you spot the difference? Big Retail, Big Consultant, Big Tech and Big Pharma, lookey-likey, interchangeable. But there is one key contrast. 

The second group, including the UK’s GSK, are actively rolling back their DEI initiatives citing contracts and relationships with the new US government as the reason. The first group, including UK’s Astra Zeneca, are maintaining or doubling down on DEI – even in the face of pressure from the Trump administration. 

That’s inspiring, informative – and useful. Prior to these businesses showing us their true selves, we would have been looking out over a ‘sea of sameness’. Choosing would have been a bit of a coin toss, and not much to lose either way. It’s very different now. Now, you get to choose which businesses’ values and ethos most closely match what you care about. 

Do organisations like McKinsey, Apple, Microsoft, Astra et al have leadership with a clearer moral compass? Yes. I don’t think we can question that. 

But are they not also showing a clearer commercial direction? Many times now, I’ve heard leaders from organisations standing up for DEI initiatives say simply ‘We have to be a mirror of the society we live in’ or ‘We aim to reflect the diversity of our customers.’  And if you think the average consumer is insensitive to this stuff – just ask Elon Musk. Never trust ego over evidence. 

Society is so much bigger than dogma and political parties. We should all remember that. And the arrow of society’s progress – viewed with true perspective – always points forward. Maybe these few simple truths could help leaders of all stripes.

Firstly | You too will soon be dust.

Secondly | People know what good looks like. Mostly, only good persists. 

Finally | When your account is settled, people will remember. And it will matter. 

Andy Williams – is co-founder at Cohesive

 

Words of resistance

One of the many, many ways Trump is attempting to destroy democracy is by rewriting history and crushing language. Just this week he ordered the removal of any reference to black, hispanic, female soldiers from government records, for example, and demanded the removal of ‘woke’ words like ‘diversity’ from websites, records (including health research), and school curriculums.

Everything about Trump horrifies me, but this is particularly chilling.

I’ve always loved language, and the way it adapts and changes. As our knowledge and experiences shift, new words appear, new ideas grow. Old words that aren’t needed fall out of favour like leaves in autumn. And out of them new shoots grow. Language evolves along with society. It’s a beautiful organic process.

So for a word nerd like me, Trump’s attempt to pour weedkiller over whole swathes of language cuts deep. Especially as a lot of the poison is aimed right at me and many of the people I care about. On the list of newly banned words are “biased,” “climate science,” “female,” “women,” “socioeconomic,” “underprivileged,” and “cultural heritage.” All pretty important words in my book.

But although you can go through the motions of taking words out of dictionaries, you can’t make the people and concepts those words represent just disappear.

We can resist. We can keep using the words that we need, and keep telling the stories of people that Trump is trying to eradicate. Birth new words to describe our experiences now and resist this clumsy jackbooted attempt to write anyone who isn’t a wealthy straight white man out of existence.

All the noise and chaos of his destruction is designed to blindside and stun us into silence; the road to Gilead is paved with disappearing words and ideas. But we can all keep talking, keep writing, keep sharing, keep records, keep the truth.

Words are immensely powerful.

Tell stories, because stories tie communities together, they’re the fabric of our culture and they keep us strong.

Sharon Tanton – is content director at Cohesive