DEI in Leadership: Three Myths Critics Push to Kill It — And Why We Need to Call Them Out

“The attacks on DEI aren’t about fairness — they’re about protecting privilege.” There’s a growing backlash against DEI. Critics call it unfair, divisive, or irrelevant. But let’s be honest: if DEI weren’t working, no one would bother attacking it.

The real reason critics push so hard against DEI is because it works. It’s changing leadership demographics. It’s breaking the monopoly of white men promoting white men. It’s giving opportunities to people who were locked out for generations. And that shift feels threatening — not because it’s unfair, but because it signals the end of unearned privilege.

And nowhere is DEI more powerful than in leadership, because leadership is the lever that changes everything. When leadership changes, pipelines open, role models multiply, and opportunity becomes real.

Here are three of the biggest myths critics push — and the truths they don’t want you to see.

Myth 1: DEI Means Hiring Unqualified People (Lowering Standards)

Critics love to say DEI is about giving jobs to unqualified people just to tick boxes.

The truth? DEI isn’t about bypassing merit — it’s about giving qualified people a fair chance to be considered.

Take the NFL. Some critics point to the fact that ~65% of players are minorities and say, “Look — the field is diverse. We don’t need DEI.” But that ignores the sidelines. For decades, despite the talent pool, almost no minority head coaches were hired. Not because they weren’t capable — but because they weren’t even being interviewed.

That changed in 2003 with the Rooney Rule, which required teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head-coach vacancies.

• Before the Rooney Rule: only about 6% of head coaches were minorities.
• After: the number rose to as high as 22% within a few years.

The rule didn’t guarantee jobs — it guaranteed opportunity. And once the door opened, talent that had been ignored finally got a fair look.

That’s why DEI in leadership matters. Without diverse leadership, the system perpetuates itself: white men promoting white men. When leadership changes, opportunity follows.

Myth 2: DEI Is Reverse Discrimination — It Punishes White Men

This myth frames fairness as a zero-sum game: if women and minorities gain, white men must lose.

The truth: DEI doesn’t punish anyone. What it does is break monopolies. For decades, leadership was dominated by white men not because they were always the best, but because they were the only ones considered. That’s not meritocracy — that’s gatekeeping.

Here’s the real effect: representation creates possibility.

If you’ve never seen a woman CEO, how likely are you, as a woman, to imagine yourself in that role? If every leadership team you see is all white men, the unspoken message is: don’t bother — this shop is closed to you.

That’s not a pipeline problem — it’s choking the pipeline at the very start. Talented people opt out before they even apply, because the system signals they don’t belong.

Role models change that dynamic. When leadership is visibly diverse, it tells others: you could be here too. That visibility expands ambition, encourages applications, and grows the pool of talent.

So DEI doesn’t punish white men — it builds a bigger, better pipeline by removing invisible barriers and showing everyone they have a fair shot.

Myth 3: DEI Is About Woke Politics, Not Real Business Need

Another common criticism is that DEI is just politics — a “woke” agenda that distracts from real business.

The truth: DEI in leadership is not politics. It’s strategy. It’s how organizations unlock talent, innovation, and growth.

When leadership is diverse, you get diversity of thought. One of my favorite lines says: “If we all think the same, then most of us aren’t thinking.” Homogenous leadership is a liability: it narrows options, blinds you to risks, and limits creativity. Diverse leadership broadens perspectives and creates new possibilities.

It also matters for markets. As Denzel Washington put it: “It’s not about color, it’s about culture.” You don’t understand culture by guessing from the outside — you understand it from within.

Here’s the business reality: Black women aren’t going to buy hair products from a team that doesn’t understand their needs. And if you don’t understand a market’s needs, how can you serve it successfully? You can’t.

That principle applies everywhere: healthcare, tech, consumer goods, financial services. Representation in leadership makes companies more credible to the markets they serve.

And finally, leadership diversity is a signal. When people see a company’s top team is inclusive, more diverse candidates apply across the board. It strengthens recruitment, expands the pipeline, and helps retain talent.

The data backs this up. McKinsey’s Diversity Wins study found that companies with more diverse leadership teams are more likely to outperform their peers financially. Diversity isn’t a distraction — it’s a competitive edge.

The Bottom Line

Critics push myths about DEI because it threatens entrenched privilege. But the evidence is clear: when DEI changes leadership, everything changes.

DEI doesn’t lower standards — it raises them.
DEI doesn’t punish anyone — it opens opportunity for everyone.
DEI isn’t politics — it’s smart business.

And that’s why DEI in leadership matters most. Because when leadership changes, the game changes.

Written by Gordon Tredgold. Have you read?
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