The Truth About DEI: Myths, Meanings & Missteps - Part 1

DEI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the foundation of healthy, high-performing cultures. In this episode of The Culture Advantage Podcast, host Michael Baran breaks down what diversity, equity, and inclusion truly mean, why they matter, and how leaders can start noticing everyday behaviors that shape belonging in the workplace. 

Transcript

The Truth About DEI: Myths, Meanings & Missteps - Part 1

Is your company struggling, navigating through high turnover, toxic leadership, or a culture that's holding your team back from reaching its full potential? Well, you're not alone. So here's your host and guide, Michael Baran.

Michael Baran: DEI. Three little letters at the heart of so much controversy. Let's demystify it. I'm your host, Michael Baran, and in this episode of the Culture Advantage podcast, we're gonna dive into what DEI really is, what it isn't. The work that it does some ways to move forward in this current moment, and this all matters because DEI, right?

Or diversity, equity and inclusion, which is what those letters stand for. [00:01:00] Those are really important factors when we talk about culture and when we talk about the success of your organization. The episode is broken down into two parts. The first part is going to build some foundational knowledge about what DEI even is.

I know some of you may not be entirely clear, and that's okay. We're gonna walk through it together. Now those of you who might be experts or practitioners in this area, you might wanna skip to the next part, and that's okay too. If you think you know what DEI or those individual words mean, but you're not an expert.

I would really encourage you to stick around here because there's a difference between the way that DEI is understood out in the world and the way it's actually practiced now, part two. Next, that's gonna go more into what DEI actually looks like in organizations, the work of it, how [00:02:00] DEI has become a contested term or acronym, a politicized term, and some ways to move forward.

So if you're still here, I'm glad. 'cause I think it's important to have a clear and deep understanding of the concepts included in DEI. This is gonna form the foundation for everything we're gonna talk about in this podcast, or at least. A whole lot of it. So let's disentangle the components together. Far too often people are smushing the letters of DEI together treating it as one term, like LNOP or something, and they think it's just one thing.

But each of those letters has a very specific meaning. First, there's d. That's for diversity right now. I often being hear this, I hear the term being used in a way that I think is not quite right, or at least not very respectful and inclusive to all people. And what I'm talking about is I hear people call someone a diverse [00:03:00] candidate or a diverse person, and folks there is no such thing.

It's just a person or a candidate. We all have different dimensions, different attributes that make us who we are. Every single one of us, people identify with a race and ethnicity, a religion, a gender. People have an age, a generation, different abilities, different ways of processing information, different educations, different places of birth, different life experiences, veteran statuses.

All right. All of those things make us who we are, and all of those things are included in diversity, certainly not just race and gender, as some people tend to think. So what would it mean to call a person diverse? That they're not white, not a man. Think about what that implies. It's implying that there's [00:04:00] one standard, normal, centered way of being and anything else is different.

AKA diverse instead of realizing that we live in a multiracial, multicultural, multilingual nation, and that we're all unique and no one should be more central or normal or standard than anyone else. Now, if you've said those words before. Diverse candidate. Diverse person. Don't be ashamed. You don't have to defend yourself.

Just first, really hear what I'm saying about this, what the implications are, and then just don't do it anymore. The things we're gonna talk about on this podcast are so complicated and we are all gonna mess up sometimes. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes. Every single one of us expect that. Commit to learning and growing and move on.

So thinking about people as people, right? Not in [00:05:00] as people in relation to some standard or norm. When we have any two people. There's gonna be similarities and differences in terms of all those dimensions that we talked about. When we have any group, there are gonna be similarities and differences in terms of all those dimensions we talked about, and diversity as it's meant here.

It's just a description of that range of differences. It's a description of who, who's in the room, who's on the team. Who's making this decision? Who's in the organization? And we can be really specific about whether we consider it to be enough diversity along what dimension. So let's say we have a wonderfully group, diverse group of men, right?

We can be very specific and say maybe we don't have enough gender diversity. And we say that both to be fair and not biased 'cause that's important, and also to get us the best results for what we're trying to accomplish. If we're hiring for an open [00:06:00] position, for example, and there are only men evaluating all the candidates, that's not a good strategy for fairly evaluating candidates and getting the best person for the position.

Now, some of these dimensions of difference that we're talking about are readily apparent. And most are not, right? So when you meet someone for the first time, you can see certain things about them. You can hear certain things about them. You see and hear those things, and then you might make assumptions and tell stories about all these other dimensions that they have.

But that's just an assumption. Right. So for example, you might assume someone's gender identity when you see them or when you hear their name, but you won't know it for sure until they tell you with their pronouns, when they introduce themselves or their pronouns on their email signature or some other way.

Even if you're right almost all the time, you might be right in assuming someone's gender identity most of the time, but [00:07:00] it's still an assumption until you really know. You may assume you know someone's race by the way they look, and yet it's so much more complicated than people tend to think. I did this one research project where I went around and interviewed 150 people at different locations on the street, and I asked them if they're comfortable sharing.

What race they identify as. I asked a bunch of different questions after that, but that was always the first one out of 150 people that I talked to, how many different answers do you think I got to that question? Think about it. Get a number in your head. Sometimes people think, well, how many races are there in the world?

5, 6, 7. I'll tell you out of 150 people, I got 72 different answers to that question, and there would be no way of knowing how someone was gonna answer that question based on what you could see or hear from them [00:08:00] right now. It's not necessarily even possible to stop our brains from making assumptions sometimes, but the logical, slower part of our brain can intervene, right?

Can give us pause, can tell us to check that impulse so that we're really seeing people for who they are. Okay, now, all of that, that's diversity. A description. Now, after you finish this podcast, right? Not right now necessarily, but after you finish the podcast, I want you to just go about your day, go about your week, and notice some things about the diversity in your world.

Consider the diversity of your team. Are you making assumptions? When you do that, consider the diversity of your go-to people at work, right? Who do you trust? Who do you go to when you need something done fast? And well think about that. In what ways is that network of people similar to you? In what ways are they [00:09:00] different?

In what ways does it bring you a diversity of perspectives, experiences? Consider also the diversity of your neighborhood, your friend group, the newscasters or influencers you listen to, the main characters of the TV shows and movies that you watch for now, just notice it. Consider it, okay? Now the E. The E is for equity.

And equity is an outcome. When people are given the supports they need to thrive. Equity is often confused, mixed up with the equality. I get that they sound similar, similar concepts, but they're not the same. The way I think of the difference is that they're two different ways to think about fairness in one way.

Everyone gets the same thing, right? The exact same thing. That's a kind of [00:10:00] fairness, right? That's equality. The same rights, for example. That would be great, right? But let's think of another example. Everyone getting Christmas off as a holiday from work. That's a quality. Everyone's getting the same thing, but it works great for some people.

Those people who celebrate Christmas and it doesn't work so great for other people, right? People who practice a different religion or have no religion equity, on the other hand, would be giving everyone what they need. Right to seamlessly practice their religion. So sometimes that means we're gonna get different things.

Some people are gonna need different days off. Some people might need prayer rooms. Some people might need vegetarian meals, you know, office events. Some people might need non-alcoholic options. When you go out for social events, there's way more. That I wanna say about equity, especially as it relates to society, but I'm gonna leave it there [00:11:00] for now.

I'll talk more about that later. And equity is another thing to notice in your life. Where do you find people needing different things so that everyone can thrive? I'll tell you a story from my life. I'm a dad. I have four kids, and I notice all the time I'm talking about these two different kinds of fairness, right?

Like my 11-year-old will say, it's not fair that my brother gets to stay up until midnight, and I don't. Right. His brother is older, 15, so he's arguing for equality. Right. It would be fair in his mind if we all got the same thing or he'll say it's not fair. He always gets to hang out with his friends.

It's not fair. He has an iPhone and I don't. By that definition, right? By that equality definition of fairness, he's not wrong. But of course, as a parent, I understand it's way more about equity. In this case, every child gets what they need, [00:12:00] depending on who they are, what their differences are. In this case, how old they are.

And that means they get different things. So again, just notice in your life at work and outside of it where people might need different things and that there would be a more fair way to do it by giving people different things rather than the same thing. Now, the I. Inclusion. That's a feeling. A feeling of being welcomed, valued, respected, heard, understood, supported.

Those are great things to feel. Who doesn't wanna feel that? Right? But who does feel it in your organization? Who feels it when they interact with you? It does not necessarily matter if you think everyone should feel it. When they interact with you. 'cause you might think, I don't judge anyone. I respect everyone.

So people should feel inclusion when they [00:13:00] interact with me. Doesn't matter if you think they should, it only matters if they do and maybe you're not being as inclusive as you think you are, which is the case for most of us. I mean, I am sure you're being really inclusive. Of the people you're being inclusive of, as my colleague Gloria Cotton is known to say.

But are you actively, intentionally taking steps to make sure everyone feels that when they interact with you, that everyone feels that all the time when they interact with you? That's inclusion. It has to be top of mind. Now what's the opposite of inclusion? Exclusion, of course, an exclusion can be explicit and open right there.

Right. There is a lot of that in the world, even more now maybe than in the recent past, but it's usually not what gets in our way in workplaces. In workplaces, what usually [00:14:00] gets in our way is a more passive kind of exclusion. Like maybe you're not including everyone actively to the same degree, so passive exclusion can happen.

It often shows up as subtle and unintentional, and we'll definitely look at that in future episodes. Exclusion is painful. It's expensive. I was reading a study about how in 2023 alone, one year exclusion was estimated to cost American companies, just American companies, $1.05 trillion in one year, right?

Because of retention issues, having to train new people, lower productivity, lower engagement. And again, we want inclusion, not just because it's good for people, which it is, and that is really important. And also because it's the kind of culture we want to be able to collaborate [00:15:00] best together. So with inclusion.

Notice what things people do when they interact with you that make you feel great, make you feel respected, and valued and understood. What are people notice, what people are actually doing when you feel those things. What about when you don't feel great? Interacting with someone. Notice what caused that too, what actions caused it.

Now also try to notice what you are doing. Even the little things. I was hearing about a study where just having your, you're talking to a colleague, for example, and just having your cell phone in your hand. While you're talking to them, makes that person feel less inclusion. You're not even looking at it.

You've just got it in your hand. And they feel less inclusion, right? Why? Because this sort of, there's this implied threat that at any moment a notification could pop up and you know, you would, your attention would be taken away. Or you know, your [00:16:00] Apple watches are big like that. They buzz and you look at it, right?

So just those little things. Those subtle things can make people feel inclusion or not. So notice those things. Maybe keep a journal, keep a list. I love that. We are gonna be talking a lot more about D and e and I in coming episodes, but that's the foundation that I wanna build. There's some other letters that people use in this work.

Sometimes, maybe you've heard them. Sometimes people call it DEIB. Right? With a B. That stands for belonging. Sometimes people add a J to stand for justice, sometimes an A-D-E-I-A to stand for accessibility. I will probably talk about those other letters at some point, but for now, let's just stick to the D and the E and the I since that's really the acronym that most people are using right now.

Okay, that's it for part one. Next time we're gonna get into what [00:17:00] DEI work really looks like day to day. We're gonna look at the term itself. How it's been used politically, and we're gonna talk about some ways to move forward given the current context. Until then, remember the things I mentioned that you could do if you want some small actionable steps for growth, right?

First, notice the diversity. In the groups that you inhabit and I, I always suggest writing it down or journaling about it. Take a notebook or a journal, maybe get a new one. If you don't have one lying around, I know it. Sometimes it feels like, ugh. Another thing to do. I will tell you it really helps me when I journal, and that definitely works best if I can make it a habit some way.

So. For me, it's like every day before I start work, for example, and just, I'm just talking five minutes, right? 10 minutes as part of anything else you wanna journal about. Okay. So first, [00:18:00] notice the diversity of your spaces and your networks and your media consumption. Then second, we talked about. Notice where equity is needed.

Where do people need different things in order to thrive in the same way? And then third, notice, and again, journal about actions, things people do to make you feel inclusion, feel great or exclusion, right? And notice the behaviors that you are doing to actively try to help others feel. Inclusion to feel wonderful, to feel valued and respected.

Write it down. You're compiling lists of inclusive behaviors and reminders that hopefully can be helpful for you. And of course, if you don't wanna do that, don't do it right and don't feel bad about it. It's not homework. Just something on offer. Okay? Thank you for joining me today. I'm really excited about the [00:19:00] community we're building here.

Talk to you soon.

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