MEI, the new DEI?
Fortune magazine recently published an article on the performance evolution of DEI and we couldn’t resist sharing the observations here on the ICC Virtual Coach space. The article reports that critics of ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ initiatives have coined a new phrase – ‘Merit, Excellence and Intelligence’…
The phrase was first introduced by Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, who claims that the acronym represents a ‘hiring principle that secures only the best person for the job’. Wang goes on to say, ‘we seek out and demand excellence, and we unapologetically prefer people who are very smart’. His views have been echoed by some prominent business leaders, such as Elon Musk and Shaun Maguire, who have both criticised DEI initiatives in the past.
The concept of MEI, understandably, raised a few eyebrows among us. Wang is at pains to say that he strongly disagrees that meritocracy and diversity conflict with each other, however evidence suggests the opposite. The Fortune article cites academic research from 2010 that found ‘when organisations promote meritocracy as part of their culture, managers inadvertently begin to gender-discriminate towards men over equally performing women during performance evaluations’.
Tech start-ups are often called-out for their ‘start-up bro culture’, and a recent Deloitte report on large tech gender diversity outlined a 3:1 ratio of men to women. The statistics for ethnic diversity in tech are even more startling.
There is no doubt that MEI are highly aspirational qualities to have in a workforce. But we believe that something is missing… Opportunity. If, from the outset, all team members are not exposed to the same opportunities to perform, then not only will we simply see the ‘chosen few’ rise to the top, but we will also be missing another opportunity… tapping into the potential of the under-represented others.
Tech, of course, has enormous influence over other sectors – if the tech industry starts a trend, others will often follow. We, and many other DEI experts, fully support that organisations should strive to hire the best person for the job. But by simply hiring for MEI, we believe that organisations will churn through its workforce. What’s missing is the power of collaboration through Inclusion. What’s overlooked is Diversity of thought, which is key for innovation.
Next up is the controversial announcement from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) stating that it has eliminated the term Equity from its terminology, opting instead for Diversity and Inclusion. But perhaps that’s for another day!
Read the full Fortune article here
