DEI REIMAGINED: Navigating Challenges and Leading the Future

The League of Intrapreneurs
Sep 23
6 min read

We are living through a pivotal moment where Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is facing active backlash in many parts of the world. The critical question is not whether DEI still matters, but how it must evolve to become more resilient, future-facing, and integral to innovation, climate action, and truly inclusive workplaces.

As a warm-up event for GIW2025, DEI Reimagined: Navigating Challenges and Leading the Future was moderated by Fadzi Whande, Chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Section @ UNHCR. She skillfully guided the discussion—bringing powerful questions to life and helping participants explore what DEI means in today’s rapidly changing landscape. This article synthesizes insights shared during the session, featuring contributions from Saidah Nash Carter, Paulina Naumenko, Hugues Sygney Jr., and Jennifer Giroux.

Organizations are facing DEI fatigue and backlash. How can we reposition equity work so it feels future-focused, energizing, and mission-aligned, especially in purpose-driven businesses?

DISMANTLING MISCONCEPTIONS

Reflecting on his own context—living between Brooklyn, New York, and Brazil—Hugues Sygney Jr, Senior Racial Equity Program Manager at B Lab, emphasizes that while the geopolitical landscape differs across regions, one truth remains: the law of the land has not changed.

Too many leaders have reacted to misinformation and fear, believing that DEI work has been outlawed. “That is absolutely false,” he insisted. For B Corps and organizations within his community, his message is clear: non-discrimination laws remain in place, and now more than ever, DEI purpose and values must be at the forefront. This is where leaders often stumble—especially when their efforts have been performative or treated as a checklist. He urged, instead, to navigate this moment by anchoring in organizational values, clarifying risk appetite, and adapting to regional needs. His call to leaders was clear:

shift from performance to practice by re-examining policies, centering care, and prioritizing healing.

SELF CARE & COMMUNITY

Setting strict boundaries around our own care in order to sustain this work is essential. “It’s a marathon, not a race,” Hugues emphasized, noting the importance of daily pauses, self-reflection, and practices that prevent leaders from being pulled into the abyss of misinformation and fear. This care must extend to organizational members, creating spaces where they feel supported and valued. Equally vital, is building community. Hugues personal experience with The League of Intrapreneurs and other networks has reinforced that leaders are not alone in this struggle. There is a global community committed to navigating tensions and advancing justice together.

How can DEI be reimagined to remain resilient and relevant in the face of growing ideological pushback—where it’s increasingly branded as just an ideology?

Jennifer Giroux – Chief Strategist and Impact Innovator at Giroux Impact – reminds us that DEI has always been political. She views the backlash as evidence of progress and urges rooting the work more deeply in strategy, values, and ethics so it endures. Jennifer highlights four takeaways to help reposition DEI during turbulent times:

DEI has always been political—because it redistributes power. It asks: who is missing from the table, who isn’t being heard, and how do we create pathways and opportunities for those people and groups to be included?

Jennifer Giroux

CHIEF STRATEGIST AND IMPACT INNOVATOR AT GIROUX IMPACT

4 TAKEAWAYS ON REPOSITIONING DEI

1. DEI SHOULD NOT BE A ‘PET PROJECT’

If DEI is really embedded in the organization, then it can’t be easily trimmed in hard seasons or in the storm. But if it’s just sitting in HR or marketing, it won’t survive.

2. ADAPT THE LANGUAGE, DEEPEN THE ROOTS

Whether it is called “inclusive culture,” “people-centered innovation,” or something else, the label matters less than the depth of the work. By fortifying the roots—embedding DEI in systems, strategy, and decision-making—and by speaking the language of business, organizations can increase resilience and impact without losing integrity.

3. BUILD FOR STORMS NOT SUNSHINE

Resilience means designing for disruption. The present moment is a creative opportunity: where is the field disrupted, where are people uncomfortable, and how do we architect for those conditions? Rather than launching new campaigns, leaders should strengthen infrastructure so the work endures when language, budgets, or pressures shift.

4. MAKE IT NON-NEGOTIABLE

DEI must be positioned as essential, not optional. It has to be tied not only to our ethics and values, but to how teams and cultures thrive. Is this a place where people want to be? Where the best talent gathers? Where creativity endures—even in the storm? DEI is not an accessory, but a driver of long-term performance and organizational health.

HOW DEI CAN BE REIMAGINED NOT JUST AS A MORAL IMPERATIVE BUT AS AN INNOVATION STRATEGY?

“I’d invite us to see this moment as a kind of ‘last gasp of air’ from a dying breed. We’re standing at a global inflection point, with the chance to rebuild what has been dismantled or eroded in recent years. Thinking of it this way gives me both the energy and the fortitude to move forward,” says Saidah Nash Carter, catalyst at the League of Intrapreneurs.

When it comes to innovation and the role of DEI, the corporate innovation space has long emphasized that diversity—across gender, race, sexual orientation, ability, and more—is ultimately a proxy for diversity of thought. And “you really will not innovate if you don’t have diversity of thought at the table.” It fuels creativity, problem-solving, and the cross-pollination of ideas—especially when addressing large, interconnected challenges like the SDGs.

When we innovate or design new products, particularly in African contexts, we must continually ask: Who is not in the room? Building for community means recognizing that we are also of that community—and ensuring the perspectives of those we serve are not just considered but actively included.

As AI reshapes the future of work, what role should Diversity & Inclusion play in ensuring AI is used to reduce bias and expand accessibility, rather than reinforce exclusion?

CONSCIOUS TECH

There are risks, says Paulina Naumenko, Business Program Manager and Inclusion Leader at Intel, particularly around fairness in hiring and workplace practices, but there are also opportunities. For example, AI can make hiring processes more efficient. One company that used an AI tool achieved its diversity hiring goals for the first time, demonstrating how AI can support more equitable outcomes. Paulina also notes that many innovations are initially created to support people with disabilities. Recording and transcribing meetings, for instance, makes content more accessible for people with hearing impairments. AI can further streamline the creation of notes from meeting transcriptions. Using transcripts not only simplifies project management but also helps reduce biases, ensuring that important contributions are properly recognized and attributed.

When it comes to human gatekeepers, such as managers,

AI can support the creation of more inclusive processes.

If technology is developed ethically, with attention to injustice and a commitment to diversity and inclusion, it has enormous potential to sustain DEI work, improve outcomes, and ensure fairness in the workplace.

AI AND INCLUSIVENESS AT WORK

Research from Salesforce shows that 76% of employees with disabilities do not disclose them at work, often because they do not feel safe. AI can provide accommodations in ways that are seamless and supportive, making the workplace more inclusive.

In a time when DEI is increasingly politicized, how do value-based frameworks like B Corps help reimagine inclusive leadership?

In a time when DEI is increasingly politicized, Hugues argues that value-based frameworks like B Corps can help reimagine inclusive leadership by grounding action in both purpose and data. There is no single recipe—each company must define its own “why” and build systems that address its specific challenges, whether related to diversity, leadership, training, or stakeholder engagement. B Corps, for example, use data to shape both policy and practice. Their BAB standards offer companies a menu of options tailored by size and revenue, ensuring that decisions are not only informed but also actionable.

Through initiatives like this, value-based companies address immediate challenges while educating and empowering employees, creating systemic impact locally, nationally, and globally. By centering leadership on values and data, these frameworks offer a clear model for inclusive leadership, showing how equity can be embedded in operations and how companies can inspire wider adoption of these practices.

CONCLUSION

Reimagining DEI isn’t about abandoning it—it’s about evolving. It’s about moving beyond slogans and building inclusive, adaptive, human-centered systems. In times of resistance or scrutiny, DEI work is leadership: strategic, values-driven, and essential for the future of workplaces and society.

Watch the full episode to hear our panelists explore how inclusion becomes a practice, not just a principle.