What a great read. I wish I knew what the answer was. Time and time again, what you talked about at the end bears out. Inclusivity makes us all better. It provides us different viewpoints from which to address issues. But time and time again leadership finds ways to make it impossible. Because it also makes leadership uncomfortable. Whether it be in the corporate world or the military world.
I had hoped in my lifetime I would see a change. I know that probably won’t happen. Maybe in my daughter’s or granddaughter’s it will.
This was incredibly well-written. Not only that, but it describes the climate at Amazon better than I've ever seen before. DEI as a formal program is falling down. It's only a matter of time before it crumbles and we build it back up with something timeless... leadership. Well done, Tony.
Excellent article and spot on. As an Amazonian this is beyond frustrating. Morale is in the toilet. Its sad how accurate your statements are…and what’s worse is how minorities have been scapegoated and used for virtue signaling. So many have been taken advantage of.
In all of your examples, a focus on true merit and results would have fixed or prevented problems. The “male autocrats” should have been punished in those instances where they created a hostile work environment instead of just unfairly hiring and promoting based on immutable characteristics. If corporations actually focused on merit and punished anti-collaborative behavior, they would be more just and productive places to work. Universities would be pressured to prepare students of all colors and both genders to compete for those jobs by getting a proper education and being held to actual, objective standards. Further, DEI is a slap in the face to minorities and women, signaling to them that they can’t succeed on their merit alone; corporations supposedly need to handicap more competent white men in some cases to make the diversity numbers look better. The real problem is that society needs to quit pretending there are not skills and education gaps between groups. You don’t fix those by ignoring them and placing ill-prepared people into jobs they can’t do. You only embolden the actions of disgruntled “male autocrats” and cause all women and minorities to have their fitness for any job questioned. Did they truly earn it, or were they given it to make the corp’s numbers look better? Was there a better fit for the job who was denied the opportunity? Is the corp or society better or worse off having inferior talent in the role?
So where your statement goes off the rails is making the assumption whites are inherently more qualified. This is horse shit. Statistically a higher percentage of women and minorities are choosing to persue and completing college education. White men are not. In addition minorties and women often have to be OVER qualified to be considered for the same role white males are qualified or moderately qualified for. Are there situations where a white male was unjustly passed over for a minority …sure I can agree this has happened . However the rate that a minority is PASSED over when they a MORE qualified for happens significantly more. Most minorities have experienced workplace discrimination sometime during their careers. The majority of white men have never experienced discrimination like this author did. Neither is right..and I agree with the authors thoughts. What white folks have to STOP doing is ASSUMING they are inherently more intelligent and qualified in 2025. Stop the bullshit. It’s racist and ignorant. I know more mediocre white men in leadership roles than women or minorities. White men have the bro code that’s been shutting folks out for decades and folks are sick of it.
I would agree with that sentiment. NOONE should lose out of opportunities that they are qualified for , for someone who is NOT more qualified but more “connected” or some physical characteristic. What is offensive is how it’s framed by whites is that it’s assumed whites are being selected for “merit” and everyone else is not (and therefore not qualified”). What white males have not been able to admit is that for decades more often than not mediocre white men have gotten access to opportunities because of bias, relationships or networks (and have had the audacity to try and convince everyone else they should play by these same rules and it’s their fault if they are not as “connected”). This rarely happens for non-whites or women. These other groups have historically had to be overqualified or over perform to be considered for the same opportunity a white man has….and it’s STILL happening. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and neither is the way to go but if minorities and women can understand that and empathize with the feeling of being discriminated against it’s maddening when white men PRETEND this hasn’t been happening and still happens for others. I’m not saying you feel this way but I’m just pointing this out. If white men could attempt to empathize and understand this half as much as minorities and women do…then we could move the conversation forward and collectively root out issues and create solutions that support EVERYONE. Ignoring it and callling other groups “snowflakes” or crazy for acknowledging this discrimination is maddening. Lastly agree that DEI is smoke and mirrors and bullshit ….it also have statically done VERY LITTLE for blacks and PRIMARLY benefited WHITE WOMEN and ASIANS. So this push to get rid of it won’t impact blacks or Hispanics really at all. Look up recent data regarding what college admissions look like since the ending of affrimitive action. Black enrollment is essentially the same …so is women ironically. Guess who’s enrollment went down ? ASIANS. The group that ironically brought this suit. People spend too much time listening to politicians who are trying to manipulate instead of researching on their own to find out. Most of these DEI programs made really small impact if any. I’m with the author now. Getting rid of it can stop the pretend game so we can tackle real bias and discrimination.
I very much agree with you. White males have benefitted for decades, forever really, because societies have assumed them superior. It is an awful form of tribalism to consider someone's worth based on their race or gender. I think we need to acknowledge past wrongs and provide better education or other supports to close achievement gaps rather than engaging in more tribalism of a different sort (just giving people the job) to make the group numbers look better. We should view people as individuals rather than divide into tribes, while also recognizing we need to provide more education and support to enable better achievement by groups who have historically had poor schools and support. In the Deep South of the US, majority-black schools were shortchanged for decades.Very sad.
During WWII the U.S. had the best workforce on the planet. And it was a truly diverse workforce meaning - women, men, minorities, disabled and the old. It was inclusive. Everyone could work. Just as one example... this workforce produced 300,000 aircraft in under five years.
Since the end of WWII (and the beginning of America's golden era of production) we have mutilated the workforce under the ironical guise of improving organizational performance.
By the beginning of the 1980s the U.S. had lost almost all of its electronics industry, steel industry, textile industry and a significant portion of its automobile industry to Japan and other foreign. Because we could not compete operationally. Meaning the workforce couldn't compete operationally.
One workforce improvement program followed by another brought the U.S. to this sad place.
In 1981 people were asking..."If Japan can, why can't we?" And seriously the answer was... it's the workforce. The workforce had been so... bent, folded, spindled and mutilated that it could no longer produce. And many companies failed.
Then throughout the 80s, 90s, and 2000s we learned how to work again. And once we learned how to work again we competed... again.
And now comes DEI with the promise to improve the workforce. Particularly to improve workforce diversity, equity and inclusion. Like the U.S. workforce during WWII, 1942-1945. But DEI is already proving to be a quagmire of corporate/organizational politics. With DEI taking center stage in the workforce. With DEI being the... goal, the U.S. will certainly forget how to work... again.
What a great read. I wish I knew what the answer was. Time and time again, what you talked about at the end bears out. Inclusivity makes us all better. It provides us different viewpoints from which to address issues. But time and time again leadership finds ways to make it impossible. Because it also makes leadership uncomfortable. Whether it be in the corporate world or the military world.
I had hoped in my lifetime I would see a change. I know that probably won’t happen. Maybe in my daughter’s or granddaughter’s it will.
This was incredibly well-written. Not only that, but it describes the climate at Amazon better than I've ever seen before. DEI as a formal program is falling down. It's only a matter of time before it crumbles and we build it back up with something timeless... leadership. Well done, Tony.
Excellent article and spot on. As an Amazonian this is beyond frustrating. Morale is in the toilet. Its sad how accurate your statements are…and what’s worse is how minorities have been scapegoated and used for virtue signaling. So many have been taken advantage of.
In all of your examples, a focus on true merit and results would have fixed or prevented problems. The “male autocrats” should have been punished in those instances where they created a hostile work environment instead of just unfairly hiring and promoting based on immutable characteristics. If corporations actually focused on merit and punished anti-collaborative behavior, they would be more just and productive places to work. Universities would be pressured to prepare students of all colors and both genders to compete for those jobs by getting a proper education and being held to actual, objective standards. Further, DEI is a slap in the face to minorities and women, signaling to them that they can’t succeed on their merit alone; corporations supposedly need to handicap more competent white men in some cases to make the diversity numbers look better. The real problem is that society needs to quit pretending there are not skills and education gaps between groups. You don’t fix those by ignoring them and placing ill-prepared people into jobs they can’t do. You only embolden the actions of disgruntled “male autocrats” and cause all women and minorities to have their fitness for any job questioned. Did they truly earn it, or were they given it to make the corp’s numbers look better? Was there a better fit for the job who was denied the opportunity? Is the corp or society better or worse off having inferior talent in the role?
So where your statement goes off the rails is making the assumption whites are inherently more qualified. This is horse shit. Statistically a higher percentage of women and minorities are choosing to persue and completing college education. White men are not. In addition minorties and women often have to be OVER qualified to be considered for the same role white males are qualified or moderately qualified for. Are there situations where a white male was unjustly passed over for a minority …sure I can agree this has happened . However the rate that a minority is PASSED over when they a MORE qualified for happens significantly more. Most minorities have experienced workplace discrimination sometime during their careers. The majority of white men have never experienced discrimination like this author did. Neither is right..and I agree with the authors thoughts. What white folks have to STOP doing is ASSUMING they are inherently more intelligent and qualified in 2025. Stop the bullshit. It’s racist and ignorant. I know more mediocre white men in leadership roles than women or minorities. White men have the bro code that’s been shutting folks out for decades and folks are sick of it.
I never said whites are inherently better. What I am saying is we should focus on merit and not penalize someone because they are a white male
I would agree with that sentiment. NOONE should lose out of opportunities that they are qualified for , for someone who is NOT more qualified but more “connected” or some physical characteristic. What is offensive is how it’s framed by whites is that it’s assumed whites are being selected for “merit” and everyone else is not (and therefore not qualified”). What white males have not been able to admit is that for decades more often than not mediocre white men have gotten access to opportunities because of bias, relationships or networks (and have had the audacity to try and convince everyone else they should play by these same rules and it’s their fault if they are not as “connected”). This rarely happens for non-whites or women. These other groups have historically had to be overqualified or over perform to be considered for the same opportunity a white man has….and it’s STILL happening. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and neither is the way to go but if minorities and women can understand that and empathize with the feeling of being discriminated against it’s maddening when white men PRETEND this hasn’t been happening and still happens for others. I’m not saying you feel this way but I’m just pointing this out. If white men could attempt to empathize and understand this half as much as minorities and women do…then we could move the conversation forward and collectively root out issues and create solutions that support EVERYONE. Ignoring it and callling other groups “snowflakes” or crazy for acknowledging this discrimination is maddening. Lastly agree that DEI is smoke and mirrors and bullshit ….it also have statically done VERY LITTLE for blacks and PRIMARLY benefited WHITE WOMEN and ASIANS. So this push to get rid of it won’t impact blacks or Hispanics really at all. Look up recent data regarding what college admissions look like since the ending of affrimitive action. Black enrollment is essentially the same …so is women ironically. Guess who’s enrollment went down ? ASIANS. The group that ironically brought this suit. People spend too much time listening to politicians who are trying to manipulate instead of researching on their own to find out. Most of these DEI programs made really small impact if any. I’m with the author now. Getting rid of it can stop the pretend game so we can tackle real bias and discrimination.
I very much agree with you. White males have benefitted for decades, forever really, because societies have assumed them superior. It is an awful form of tribalism to consider someone's worth based on their race or gender. I think we need to acknowledge past wrongs and provide better education or other supports to close achievement gaps rather than engaging in more tribalism of a different sort (just giving people the job) to make the group numbers look better. We should view people as individuals rather than divide into tribes, while also recognizing we need to provide more education and support to enable better achievement by groups who have historically had poor schools and support. In the Deep South of the US, majority-black schools were shortchanged for decades.Very sad.
During WWII the U.S. had the best workforce on the planet. And it was a truly diverse workforce meaning - women, men, minorities, disabled and the old. It was inclusive. Everyone could work. Just as one example... this workforce produced 300,000 aircraft in under five years.
Since the end of WWII (and the beginning of America's golden era of production) we have mutilated the workforce under the ironical guise of improving organizational performance.
By the beginning of the 1980s the U.S. had lost almost all of its electronics industry, steel industry, textile industry and a significant portion of its automobile industry to Japan and other foreign. Because we could not compete operationally. Meaning the workforce couldn't compete operationally.
One workforce improvement program followed by another brought the U.S. to this sad place.
In 1981 people were asking..."If Japan can, why can't we?" And seriously the answer was... it's the workforce. The workforce had been so... bent, folded, spindled and mutilated that it could no longer produce. And many companies failed.
Then throughout the 80s, 90s, and 2000s we learned how to work again. And once we learned how to work again we competed... again.
And now comes DEI with the promise to improve the workforce. Particularly to improve workforce diversity, equity and inclusion. Like the U.S. workforce during WWII, 1942-1945. But DEI is already proving to be a quagmire of corporate/organizational politics. With DEI taking center stage in the workforce. With DEI being the... goal, the U.S. will certainly forget how to work... again.
We're repeating the cycle.