A New Era in Performance and DEI

A recent Wall Street Journal article lays it all out: DEI programs, though well-intentioned, failed to make significant changes in corporate leadership. Despite the push for diversity post-2020, the demographic balance at the top remains largely unchanged. The share of nonwhite senior managers in S&P 500 companies barely moved, moving from 22% to just 26% over three years. Even large a large company like Amazon, which made modest increases in nonwhite leadership, shows that DEI efforts haven’t fundamentally altered the power structures of corporate America.

The rollback of these initiatives disheartens me, but I’m also activated to think about the future. If DEI programs didn’t work as promised—and this administration wants to burn them down—what’s next? If we’re stepping into a post-DEI world, it’s time to have more conversations about performance, accountability, and what actually drives equity in the workplace.

Those conversations, like the one below, might be a little choppy and fragmented. But we (and I’m talking about myself, here) need to start somewhere.

The End of the DEI Hire “Excuse”

They wanted it, and now they’ve got it. DEI programs are on the chopping block, and with them goes the easy scapegoat of “diversity hires”—as if those ever existed. If you’re not moving up the career ladder or not, it’s no longer about quotas—it’s about performance. Real, measurable, revenue-driving performance.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most organizations don’t actually know how to measure performance. We claim to have a results-driven economy, but performance is often subjective, driven by relationships, gut feelings, and outdated evaluation methods. So now that DEI is out of the picture, will companies finally get serious about defining and measuring success? Or will they simply shift the blame to a new excuse?

Let’s put this to the test.

• If DEI was the real problem, then organizations will pretty quickly thrive without it.
• If diverse teams weren’t worth the investment, then we should see innovation and profitability skyrocket.
• If meritocracy was being stifled, then truly deserving employees should finally get their due.

I have a feeling that’s not going to happen.

A Call to Arms for Performance Management Software

For years, we should have been asking: Why are our performance management systems so fundamentally broken?

Imagine a real performance management system—one that tracks employees from application to off-boarding and integrates aspects like:

• Hiring and promotion data
• Learning and development milestones
• Compensation and pay equity
• Revenue per employee
• Attendance and PTO utilization
• Manager performance and feedback loops

Right now, it’s hard for managers to say who’s “good” and back it up with more than just feelings. It’s been like this since the dawn of time—long before SaaS tried to save us, but I think itt might be worse now. Performance data is fragmented, manipulated, and conveniently ignored when it challenges leadership decisions.

But in a post-DEI world, a truly transparent, data-driven system could finally expose hiring patterns, promotion decisions, and compensation gaps—or prove that Musk and Trump are right and none exist at all. Are we ready for that level of accountability?

I’d argue that most companies are not. Because if we had a complete picture of performance, we wouldn’t just be holding employees accountable—we’d be holding CEOs, boards, and leadership teams accountable, too.

Where We Go From Here

Rahm Emanuel once said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.”

We are in a crisis—one of leadership, accountability, and truth.

As DEI programs vanish, we have a few choices:

1. Panic. Freak out. Spend a lot of time online.
2. Speak about feelings more than data.
3. Use this moment to research what’s truly happening at work and then build better, fairer, more transparent systems and hold leaders and managers accountable.

I know where I stand.

The conversation about DEI, for me, was always a conversation about performance. And as I’ve said before, performance is everything. So here’s my challenge to every company, every executive, and every HR leader: If you think DEI was the problem, prove it. Show us the success that follows. Show us the meritocracy you claim to believe in. Show us the numbers.

Because if performance is truly everything, then it’s time to hold everyone—including our leaders—accountable for what happens next.

Related Report:Everything Is Performance: How Performance Intelligence Redefines the Future of HR