Is DEI in the Workplace Dead? Not So Fast.

For decades, the corporate world has run with a simple story: Diversity drives performance. Lately, though, the conventional wisdom has been challenged, and for good reason: Independent, peer-reviewed research has found no correlation—let alone causation—between diversity and performance.

The backlash, though, often conflates flawed implementation with a flawed idea. True workplace diversity isn’t about optics—the way somebody looks—but is about diversity of thought. According to research I’ve done for the Diversity Project, a U.K. initiative to improve diversity in asset management, teams perform better when members bring different perspectives, uncover blind spots and interrogate assumptions. This isn’t wokeness or virtue-signaling, but better business.