In America, DEI is seen as a hard left effort to win votes from people who can't compete for political, non government and corporate power based on their educations, careers and personal political and power objectives.
When a term like DEI takes over any kind of organization, the organization loses its focus on its primary goals as a tax-exempt private sector organization, a corporation or a government agency.
What happens is that DEI extremists become as cold blooded and career and job focused as the people they are trying to dislodge and replace. They don't care who they hurt on their rush for wealth and power.
For decades, I have been against promoting and voting for people because of their race, gender, national origin, religions or political agendas.
In the end, it all comes down to the greed for money and power. No greed is worse than the greed for political power as we are seeing in Russia, China, Iran, N. Korea and Europe.
The DEI movement proved the incompetence of boards of directors, the executives who have captured them and the politicians and bureaucrats in academia and government who think centralized planning works.
Markets work, and people around the world are voting with their money, votes and feet against DEI and the green agendas.
I keep wondering when Americans in Europe will wake up and come home. In America we have free speech and the opportunity to realize the American dream.
As you might have surmised, Don, I take a more nuanced view, for a few reasons. First, markets overshoot, often for long periods, especially when we don't understand all the forces at work. Second, and related, corporations push negative externalities onto society at large, which often are not realised until well into the future. (Businesses may well positive externalities too, of course, making the reckoning even more complex.) Third, on a board, getting diverse viewpoints is helpful. But "D" as laid out in metrics can't guarantee the thoughtful, well grounded cognitive conflict that lies at the heart of meaningful debate. As I've written elsewhere, compliance - with DEI or any such codes - is not the same thing as doing a good job. See: https://donaldnordberg.substack.com/p/forget-good-governance-whats-good
![How to govern [not like that]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!emEQ!,w_80,h_80,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa9d7f587-4c16-42f0-9526-b00edc0ab4c8_155x155.png)
![How to govern [not like that]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!emEQ!,w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa9d7f587-4c16-42f0-9526-b00edc0ab4c8_155x155.png)
![How to govern [not like that]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Te2X!,e_trim:10:white/e_trim:10:transparent/h_72,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F51c6c618-ff5a-481b-b4e2-28047c606ca8_990x369.jpeg)
In America, DEI is seen as a hard left effort to win votes from people who can't compete for political, non government and corporate power based on their educations, careers and personal political and power objectives.
When a term like DEI takes over any kind of organization, the organization loses its focus on its primary goals as a tax-exempt private sector organization, a corporation or a government agency.
What happens is that DEI extremists become as cold blooded and career and job focused as the people they are trying to dislodge and replace. They don't care who they hurt on their rush for wealth and power.
For decades, I have been against promoting and voting for people because of their race, gender, national origin, religions or political agendas.
In the end, it all comes down to the greed for money and power. No greed is worse than the greed for political power as we are seeing in Russia, China, Iran, N. Korea and Europe.
The DEI movement proved the incompetence of boards of directors, the executives who have captured them and the politicians and bureaucrats in academia and government who think centralized planning works.
Markets work, and people around the world are voting with their money, votes and feet against DEI and the green agendas.
I keep wondering when Americans in Europe will wake up and come home. In America we have free speech and the opportunity to realize the American dream.
As you might have surmised, Don, I take a more nuanced view, for a few reasons. First, markets overshoot, often for long periods, especially when we don't understand all the forces at work. Second, and related, corporations push negative externalities onto society at large, which often are not realised until well into the future. (Businesses may well positive externalities too, of course, making the reckoning even more complex.) Third, on a board, getting diverse viewpoints is helpful. But "D" as laid out in metrics can't guarantee the thoughtful, well grounded cognitive conflict that lies at the heart of meaningful debate. As I've written elsewhere, compliance - with DEI or any such codes - is not the same thing as doing a good job. See: https://donaldnordberg.substack.com/p/forget-good-governance-whats-good