EDI: A New Way for A New Day
June 11, 2025
Written By Sheh Shojaee
Reframing Equity to Keep Leaders Engaged, Committed, and Bold
Since the last time I wrote about this work, I’ve felt something deeper than hope. I’ve felt emboldened.
Despite the ongoing fear, fatigue, and resistance, I’ve had the privilege of working with courageous leaders, groups and teams who are not giving up on equity. Together, we’ve been reimagining what equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) can be: more strategic and more deeply woven into leadership and culture. Not a checklist or side initiative, but a way of leading with integrity and vision.
We are in a new moment. There is a shift we cannot ignore.
What many organizations stepped into after 2020 often came from urgency, heartbreak, or fear. Some efforts were externally driven, short-term, or not fully strategic. Now, as political backlash intensifies and economic pressure rises, many are scaling back, stalling or looking sideways too much.
The resistance is louder and some leaders are going quiet. Others are watching companies pull back…but not without consequences. Most care but don’t know what their next move is.
The ONLY move is FORWARD.
Many organizations are leaning in, with clarity, consistency, and meaningful results. Those are the folks who know that EDI isn’t a program, but a leadership responsibility.
EDI is not over but it is evolving. And we are responsible for shaping that evolution.
From Policing to Inviting
Early EDI efforts often focused more on caution than on possibility. People were told what not to say, without being invited into why the consistent work and shift matters. Some were made to feel too privileged to understand and slowly counted themselves out.
What if we shifted from making people wrong to creating spaces people want to step into? We always said EDI was a dance everyone should be invited to. But have we truly invited everyone?
We have the opportunity to welcome more folks in – especially those with power and influence – with curiosity and shared purpose. What inspires action isn’t pressure. It’s connection, peer-to-peer influence, honest dialogue and shared values.
Let’s speak in ways that resonate with leadership: Innovation. Growth. Excellence. Legacy.
And let’s be clear on what drives all of it: Equity. Inclusion. Trust.
From Compliance to Culture
This is where the most meaningful shift is happening.
Showing up only during a public crisis might manage risk, but it doesn’t build trust. And trust is the foundation of any resilient organization.
Leaders who embed equity into culture and strategy don’t just reduce harm, they create spaces where people and business both thrive. EDI is still a journey, but we are further along. The call now is to move from learning to action, and from action to accountability. Measuring will remain important as we move forward and ask the real questions:
What has created meaningful change?
Where are people feeling seen, safe, and included?
What efforts are working and how do we know?
Where have we fallen short, and what are we learning?
How do these efforts align with our long-term goals?
This kind of reflection doesn’t dilute equity, it brings it into focus.
The Power of Communication
One of the greatest risks isn’t pushback, it’s quiet withdrawal.
When EDI talk disappears, people notice. When leaders go silent, trust erodes. When priorities vanish, disengagement deepens. That’s my biggest fear, that disengagement and the erosion of trust continue to deepen in organizations and in society.
But here’s the opportunity: how we communicate now matters more than ever.
If your strategy is shifting, name it.
If priorities are evolving, share the why.
If progress has slowed, be honest and transparent.
If budgets are tight, explain the choices being made.
Silence is not a strategy. Honesty is. And it doesn’t need to be perfect. In fact, imperfect honesty is often the most admirable and powerful thing a leader can offer.
A Brave Way Forward
To every leader wondering what comes next:
Keep going. You’re not behind. You’re not alone.
There’s still momentum. Now is the time to:
Connect equity to every part of the business.
Align policy with practice.
Share what’s working and keep learning.
And most importantly, lead from where you are, because influence exists at every level. The most iconic leadership often doesn’t come from the top but from the person who dares to say the difficult thing in the room, when silence would be easier.
Your voice matters. Your leadership matters.
Your commitment to equity is not a risk, it’s your legacy.
Let’s return to the heart and purpose that brought us here. Many of us chose leadership because we wanted to build something better. That opportunity is still here waiting for our courage, our clarity, and our commitment.
Because using your voice, breaking down barriers, and creating meaningful change?
That should feel bold. That should feel alive. In fact, there’s no greater feeling than progress.
And at A Brave Thought, I’m going to continue to encourage and cheer you on as we build what’s next.
We've done the work without proper budgets, without consensus, without full buy-in before and we've made a difference. A huge difference. Sure, we faced setbacks: budgets cut, positions eliminated, strategies that never fully took hold. But the agenda hasn’t changed.
The reality is, DEI is the right thing to do. It’s not just about doing what’s ethical — it’s about making businesses better, more innovative, and more profitable. But we haven’t yet proven it in the ways that matter most: economically, across complex organizations, and with long-term sustainability.
DEI is an economic advantage, we just haven’t had a chance to consistently show this. We can still make it happen.
The problem isn’t the work — it’s the infrastructure that hasn’t evolved enough. Even when budgets and industries were on our side, the infrastructure refused to shift along with us all. Despite all the effort, the real, lasting change we envisioned never fully materialized. And worse, the economic advantage of DEI never arrived at the pace we expected. Or has it not yet been measured and shared enough?
DEI as we currently know it is dead? Perhaps.
So how did we get here in business?
Simply put, everyone wasn’t invited to the dance. The intention and the Why’s behind the work were not fully understood. The work was appreciated by some but never championed by ALL. People were trained and expected to unlearn and change overnight. Employees were surveyed but not heard or didn’t feel safe enough to share their truth. Diverse folks were welcomed at the table but not empowered to lead. Ideas were fearlessly brainstormed but not executed or evolved with the times. Leaders were influenced but space and time for innovation was never permitted or possible. Action plans were made, but rarely given the time or resources they needed to succeed. DEI strategies and plans were executed but impacts weren’t measured. Progress happened but it wasn’t communicated effectively.
When people did start to feel heard and seen, we started taking the budgets and our efforts away before they could feel valued. The passionate ones that took the call to act weren’t recognized or protected properly so their energy and passion was extinguished. And even for the legends who did it all impeccably, they found it to be an uphill battle. The culture and the power structure didn’t change enough.
It’s evident we need DEI to evolve — a new way for a new day is necessary to re-engage folks. Call it what you want — D&I, EDI, DEIB, JEDIAB — I call it all progress. Progress is made not in one big push, but through consistent, relentless effort.
Leaders, employees, advocates, allies and consultants — the time to act and be emboldened is now. Sit at those tables where DEIB isn't even part of the conversation and keep influencing at all levels, one discussion at a time. Don’t buy into the hype that the work is done. It’s only just begun and it must continue. Stay close to your community of transformational change makers to stay inspired. We need everyone to start leading from the seats they are currently in. The work will never be fully appreciated or championed by all, but its impact is undeniable.
It’s time to be bold. It’s time to double down on this work, even when the world seems to lose hope. We owe it to ourselves, to our communities, and to the next generation of leaders to stay the course. They’re all watching and if we lose hope, they lose hope. We can’t let the system define the pace — WE define the pace.
“When the people lead, the leaders follow.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Let’s keep going. Change might not happen overnight, but it won’t happen at all if we don’t keep fighting for it. Move forward what matters most. There’s proof of progress around us, we just have to want to see it and use it as fuel.
Let’s be brave. To remain engaged, we must stay informed. We all need to advocate for what is right and use our voice in impactful ways. We can and do make a difference.
The work for equity, justice, and inclusion isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. Let’s not pretend it hasn’t always been challenging. It was just as hard in 2020. It was challenging for the pioneers who paved the way and have been doing this work for decades. It’s 2025 and the conversation stays alive because of us.