Cultural Competence Remains Critical Even Amid DEI Backlash

Many public commentators and business leaders have recently declared that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is dead. But growing backlash against formal DEI initiatives does not change one core truth: cultural competence still has a massive, direct impact on a company’s bottom line.

Just last month, American food giant Heinz drew widespread consumer condemnation not once, but twice, for publishing racist, harmful marketing content. One ad perpetuated the long-standing harmful stereotype of absent Black fathers, while a second ad featured a depiction of a Black man that echoed the bigoted tropes of blackface and minstrel shows.

Unfortunately, Heinz is far from alone. Countless major brands have faced similar consumer pushback for careless racist cultural missteps in recent years. Last year, luxury fashion house Dior was accused of anti-Asian racism for running a campaign that showed an Asian model pulling the corner of her eye to create a slanted effect. In Australia, donut chain Krispy Kreme was forced to issue a public apology after accidentally including an extremely offensive racist slur in one of its promotional campaigns.

Over the years, household brands including Gucci, H&M, Pepsi, Heineken, Dove and many more have been caught in viral social media firestorms. Consumers call out their problematic racist content, and publicly vow to stop purchasing their products altogether.

As backlash against DEI continues to intensify, more and more companies are stepping back from the public commitments they once made to build more inclusive organizations. This retreat makes it highly likely that we will see even more high-profile cultural missteps, including the spread of racist content and harmful stereotypes, in the near future.

But as business leaders, we have a clear, actionable way to mitigate this risk. Even amid widespread DEI backlash, we can continue guiding our teams to build this critical skill: cultural competency. When teams grow more culturally competent, we don’t just avoid costly, reputation-ruining mistakes. More importantly, we can continue serving all consumers with authenticity and purpose.

Below is a core starting point to prioritize today:

Cultivate Curiosity About Experiences Outside Your Own

Humility is non-negotiable for strong leadership, and it is also the foundation of meaningful cultural competence. Embracing humility helps us open ourselves up to learning about lived experiences that are not our own. When we proactively seek to educate ourselves about experiences that are unfamiliar to us, and communities we do not belong to, we start building and strengthening our cultural competence muscle.

This process of learning naturally builds empathy: the ability to feel compassion and understanding for challenges we have never personally witnessed, navigated, or experienced in our daily lives. It also trains us to engage with new perspectives and communities with an open heart and open mind, rather than leaning on our own limited frame of reference.

As leaders, any time we create a product, service, or marketing campaign aimed at a community we do not personally identify with, we owe it to that community—and our bottom line—to pause and ask ourselves these critical questions:

• Do we truly understand the lived experiences of this community?

• What cultural nuances are we missing in our approach?

• What harmful stereotypes might we be unknowingly perpetuating?

• Do we have the right diverse talent at the table and within our broader ecosystem to guide us to a respectful, accurate outcome?