Business Perspectives: DEI Impacts and Insights

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome to the Water Troughwhere we can't make you drink,
but we will make you think.
My name is Ed Draws to the SmallBusiness Doctor, and I'm really
excited you chose to join mehere as we discuss topics that
are important for small businessfolks just like you.
If you're looking for ideas,inspiration, and possibility,
you've come to the right place.
Join us as we take steps to helpyou create the healthy business
that you've all.
Always wanted.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo (00:41):
Welcome back to the water trough.
This is Ed Draws to the smallbusiness doctor.
I don't think you need to bereminded that we're living in
some rather peculiar times.
There's a lot of things going onout here that make us question
fundamental principles that forso long we've taken for granted.
in some way it's good that weare shaking up our thoughts and

(01:01):
processes so that we canevaluate what we've done, that
which we've taken for granted,and possibly find new ways to
look at things.
But some of these fundamentalchanges are resoundingly
difficult for many of us.

Microphone (Yeti Stere (01:17):
Speaking for myself, one that comes to
mind is DEI.
It's really hard to keep thepolitical connotations out of
this discussion, but I'll do mybest.
I would like to consider DEIfrom the perspective of what it
means to me personally and whatI believe it means to those of
us in business.
Consider the word diversity.
According to the Oxford EnglishDictionary, diversity is defined

(01:41):
as the practice or quality ofincluding or involving people
from a range of different socialand ethnic backgrounds and of
different genders, sexualorientations, In a business, one
of our most important.
Elements is our people, bringingpeople into the business that

(02:02):
have a host of backgrounds thatcome from different
perspectives, regardless oftheir gender, their sexual
orientation.
A business that is comprised ofindividuals who all think alike,
who all come from the samebackground, who are all

(02:23):
comprised of the same color, thesame creed, and the same way of
thinking

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Mic (02:30):
Can be limited in its scope.
The second word, equity is defined
as the quality of being fair andimpartial.
if one is being fair andimpartial, that diversity would
be a given in a businesssituation, the quality of being
fair and impartial means thatwe're accepting.

(02:53):
different sorts of people.
We're being fair and impartialabout the existence of different
kinds of people in a business.
If we operate in an equitablemanner, we are open to allowing
different ideas, different kindsof people to participate and to

(03:17):
help us grow.
Much as diversity is afundamental concept of having a
variety of people onboard.
Equity is the act of acceptingthese people being on board.
Impartial about where they'vecome from, how they define

(03:39):
themselves, and so on the thirdword is inclusion.

Microphone (Yeti Ster (03:46):
Inclusion is defined as the practice or
policy

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micr (03:50):
of providing equal access to
opportunities and resources forpeople who might otherwise be
excluded or marginalized, suchas those.
Who have physical orintellectual disabilities, and
members of other minority groups

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Mi (04:05):
DEI, in my opinion, does not force us
to bring people on board who arenot qualified to accomplish the
jobs that need to be done.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micro (04:15):
I believe DEI gives us a greater
pool of applicants to consider.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micr (04:20):
It does not diminish that which we
look for in terms of education,experience, and potential.
It is designed to increase thepool of opportunity for us To
cater to a very fundamentalhuman need, and that is to be

(04:41):
accepting and to be accepted.
I don't think that's afarfetched expectation.
The notion that we can weaponizeDEI by taking away funding for
those that are doing it, thenotion that we can weaponize
DEI.
In such a fashion that bringspeople to their knees, giving up

(05:03):
things that they truly believein because they're afraid of the
consequences of being open toindividuals as they are.
It boggles my mind.
It really does.
I believe it denigrates thewhole concept of business
integrity.

(05:23):
I believe DEI is about culture.
It is a choice that a businessmakes to be accepting, to be
open, to be.
Willing to explore differentpeople and different
possibilities.
The idea that my funding isgonna be taken away and that I

(05:45):
have to make a choice betweenbeing a constable business owner
and getting money that I need toget things done, it just seems
totally wrong to me.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Mi (05:58):
Once again, I did not want to look at
this from a politicalperspective, but I can't help to
mention these things because Ireally believe that businesses
have to find a way to servetheir own will.
They need to find a way to beable to live in integrity, to
find ways to make a differencedespite the potential damage,

(06:18):
What might be taken away from them if
they choose to follow a DEIpath?

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Mic (06:23):
DEI is not designed to distract us
from what we're trying toaccomplish in business.
It's important that we're opento possibility, and one of the
most important and relevantthings about possibility is that
we're able to broaden thehorizons by bringing different
people with different ideas tothe table.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micr (06:43):
If we close the door on diversity,
if we.
Limit ourselves to that, whichis like us, we have lost a
tremendous amount of possibilityBusinesses need to be open to
diversity.
There needs to be theopportunity to bring in

(07:03):
different ideas from differentpeople with different
backgrounds, with differentconsiderations than what we
bring to the table.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micro (07:13):
I strongly feel that we're at a
crossroads.
The intersection betweenintegrity and acquiescence,
between possibility andreversal.
Of course, these are things thateach business person needs to
take a good hard look at.
Surrendering ourselves to the.

(07:34):
Whims or the dictums of othersis not sufficient.
We did not get into businessbecause we chose to follow the
piper.
We got into business because wechose to be the leader, to be
the one that others wanted tomimic and be like,

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Micr (07:55):
We have a choice.
We can accept the status quo andlet it lead us where it may, or
we can choose to do what webelieve is appropriate and
follow the course of our ownintegrity.
That latter choice, of course,maybe difficult for some, maybe

(08:17):
extremely difficult for some.
But the ingenuity and thepotential for each business
person, for each business issubstantial.
I believe that surrendering forthe sake of circumstances that
are not aligned with our ownintegrity, is not an acceptable

(08:37):
choice.
So I encourage you to thinkabout this and you're certainly
not gonna have an opportunity toavoid it in the current
environment.
You'll be reminded of thisdaily, multiple times every day
until we speak again.
I want to wish you the very bestin the tumultuous times.

(08:58):
This is Ed draws with a smallbusiness doctor.
I hope that your business willremain healthy.