Call her the calm at the eye of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) storm. For over 25 years, Karen Brown has been at the forefront of helping companies identify and develop the leaders they need to thrive. A key component of that is ensuring the leadership team represents a wide array of perspectives and backgrounds so that the team is best positioned to understand customer, shareholder, partner, and employee needs and meet business performance goals.

Now, in a climate in which much public and even government sentiment in many countries has turned against DEI, Brown has written a book that provides a practical guide for business leaders to use those concepts to drive business value. Her emphasis, then and now, is on action, not buzzwords.

In her book, The Leaders You Need: How to Create Diverse Leadership Teams for a More Dynamic, Resilient Future, Brown explores the reasons many businesses feel their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have failed in the past several years. For too long, she says, many organizations have managed these initiatives as a program. The problem is, programs have a start and an end, as opposed to being ongoing and strategic like other corporate functions such as technology and communications.

Making matters worse, DEI initiatives are often led by people who aren’t well positioned to link the effort to business performance. That can lead to these programs being driven solely by social justice and compliance goals, with no connection to business operations and strategy. The result, in many cases—even when employees are energized by these programs—is a tendency by middle managers and senior executives to view DEI as a meaningless and costly check-the-box exercise with nothing much to show in the way of returns.

Brown, however, believes businesses can turn DEI into a powerful driver of growth and innovation. Her book provides a practical and highly usable framework for diversity, equity, and inclusion work that can deliver on business performance goals, in addition to useful insights for business leaders looking to integrate DEI in ways that deliver tangible results.

In this candid Q&A, Brown discusses the challenging landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion in corporate culture, addressing the backlash, misunderstandings, and misconceptions that have emerged in recent years. She explains why some companies are doubling down on their DEI commitments, while others are quietly retreating or rebranding their efforts. Brown illustrates how businesses that authentically embed diversity, equity, and inclusion—especially inclusion—into their strategy as not just a social justice statement but also as a business imperative are seeing stronger employee engagement, better decision-making, and greater financial success.

Is Brown daunted by the negativity around DEI today? Never. In fact, she sees a greater opportunity now to use diversity, equity, and inclusion to return results to the business.

SAP Insights: How did we get to a place where DEI has become such a divisive issue?

Karen Brown: It is outrageous to see DEI blamed for so many societal and business failures, without any evidence. But it doesn’t surprise me. The messaging around DEI has been co-opted by politicians and business leaders who use rhetoric to connect with people's emotions and fears. When people are told repeatedly that “DEI” is responsible for their struggles or that they are being left behind because of it, they believe it.

Additionally, there is a widespread misunderstanding of what diversity, equity, and inclusion work really means. It is often misinterpreted as being solely about race or gender, but in reality, it is about maximizing human potential and business success through inclusion.

What DEI is—and isn't

According to Brown, people often think of DEI as encompassing a single activity. However, Brown says, each term refers to distinct goals:

• Diversity refers to everyone’s inherent and acquired traits. These include physical abilities (such as sight, hearing, and mobility), social identities (such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, class, and sexual orientation), and personal attributes (such as expertise, values, religion, ethnicity, and education). As such, diversity describes the world, not just a subset of people who are not white or male.
• Equity differs from equality. Equality refers to individuals or groups having the same rights, status, and opportunities to be treated the same or to be judged according to the same standards. Equity means paying attention to whether all people and groups have access to the resources or accommodations they need to participate in the workplace as equals, with solutions designed to ensure they do.
• Inclusion means to maximize all human traits. In the workplace, people’s differences are an advantage when they help their colleagues reach their goals. Some people may also need accommodations to best use their talents. When managers are inclusive, they think about how to create an environment in which everyone can participate without feeling inhibited by their differences. No one is ostracized or punished because they differ from the group that constitutes the majority.

Q: Given this climate, what opportunities still exist for companies regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Brown: This is a great opportunity for companies to reflect on what they've been doing. If they were only implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts because of social pressure or compliance, now is the time to rethink their approach. Companies should ask themselves whether their DEI efforts are truly tied to business outcomes, such as reaching new markets, building stronger teams, and solving business challenges. If they aren’t, it’s time to recalibrate.

For organizations that have always seen diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of their business strategy, this is an opportunity to further integrate these practices into their operations.

Q: Some companies, like Apple and Costco, have publicly committed to DEI despite the backlash. Why do you think that is?

Brown: I don’t have insights into these companies’ reasonings. I do know that other companies that are sticking with DEI do so for three reasons. First, they have always focused on inclusion as part of their DNA. Second, they see it as aligned with their values and are committed to modeling those values. Third, they understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion are directly tied to their business success.

For example, Ralph Lauren’s CEO Patrice Louvet discussed at Davos 2025 how they sell the same white polo shirt to customers of all ages—from three months to 80 years old and beyond—but they style and market it differently based on the generational diversity of their customers. His message is that no matter how the political winds blow, it’s just good business to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable.

That’s a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy: understanding customer diversity and adjusting your business strategy accordingly. Companies like Ralph Lauren that see this connection will continue investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion because it makes business sense.

Q: What about organizations that have pulled back on DEI? What should employees who believe in these efforts do?

Brown: People in power are influenced by what they are being held accountable for. Employees are rewarded for their performance. If employees perform well, both the employees and managers are rewarded well. Thus, it’s the duty of the leader to invest in the development and success of their people.

As employees, they can leverage all the channels available to them, starting with their manager, to ask for what they need to excel. This is equity. If what they need is directly linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion, then they should approach the ask as they would for pitching any other business idea—use data, state the problem, and offer why the solution is a DEI-related one.

If a company has pulled back on DEI publicly but still sees value in it internally, employees can continue pushing for inclusion by connecting it to people's performance and business outcomes.

I know some companies have publicly said they are cutting back on DEI, but, internally, they're doing something else, which is continuing the path they were on. If a company has truly abandoned DEI, all leaders, middle managers, and employees should find ways to embed inclusive practices into their daily work, focusing on making their teams more effective and engaged.

The work of diversity, equity, and inclusion was never a one-person or team endeavor. It has always been about everyone behaving inclusively for the betterment of the team, the division, and the business.

Q: How do you help senior leaders make that connection between diversity, equity, and inclusion and their specific business needs?

Brown: I always start by understanding their priorities. I ask questions like, “What are your business challenges?” or “What are your business goals for the current planning cycle?” or “How are you held accountable for success?”

For example, I once worked with a senior leader who initially said his biggest business challenge was that he needed more women on his leadership team. I pressed further to understand why he considered that to be a business problem. He replied that all his customers and most of the senior team were men. He explained that it is women—the men’s spouses—who are actually making the purchase decisions. These customers had told the business they prefer speaking to women when they have questions about the product because women are more patient in their listening. They're more empathetic.

I said, now you have a business problem I can understand. He had made the connection as to why it was important to have more women on the leadership team. Having a diverse team meant they could serve customers better and reap the benefits to the bottom line.

People do not want to be appointed to a role because of the identity box they check. Therefore, a gender imbalance (or a low representation of a particular diversity trait) on the team is never a good enough reason to appoint more women.

Once executives see how diversity, equity, and inclusion are aligned with their business priorities and their own success—in the form of increased revenues, new markets, greater customer loyalty, or other important business goals—they become champions.

Q: Even in the current environment, consumer influence seems to be playing a big role in how companies approach diversity, equity, and inclusion. How significant is this?

Brown: Consumer power is like a hurricane. More than ever, people are using their wallets to support brands that align with their values or to boycott those that do not. We saw this trend begin over a decade ago, but it has become even more pronounced.

Companies must consider how they are showing up in the marketplace. If they claim to value diversity but do not reflect that in their leadership, advertising, products offered, or how they show up in the community, consumers notice. Businesses that authentically embrace inclusion are more likely to retain customer loyalty. We see this today with people migrating away from Facebook and X to Bluesky or from Amazon and Target to Costco.

Q: You’ve worked with many companies on these strategies. What are some common mistakes organizations make with DEI?

Brown: One of the biggest mistakes is appointing the wrong people to lead DEI efforts. A company wouldn’t hire a CFO just because they fit a demographic checkbox, yet many organizations do this with DEI roles. Passion for the topic is great, but the person leading diversity, equity, and inclusion must also understand business strategy, operations, and how to drive results.

Businesses could look for someone who has worked in an operations role, someone who has P&L responsibilities. The ideal person has worked in roles where they’ve had to build strong relationships and influence others at all levels, often in external-facing roles because they require understanding humanity and serving their needs.

Another mistake is focusing only on social justice or compliance without integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion into the core business strategy and the everyday realities of middle managers. If DEI is not connected to business outcomes, it will always be vulnerable to backlash.

Q: What is the most important action leaders can take to tie DEI to business outcomes?

Brown: The most important thing is to look around and ask, “Who is missing?” Whether designing a product, launching a policy, delivering a mission, or making a leadership decision, leaders should pause and ask who is being excluded.

If a company is designing a global product but doesn’t have those relevant global perspectives in the room, they risk missing critical insights. If meetings aren’t structured to allow both introverts and extroverts or internal vs. external processors to contribute effectively, some voices will be lost.

The simple act of asking “Who is missing?” reveals blind spots and leads to better business outcomes. Once you see your blind spot, you know how to take action. My ABCD Framework is a guide for doing exactly that.

ABCD methodology

Brown emphasizes practicality above ideology. Her ABCD Framework provides guidance on where and how to begin.

The framework comprises four pillars:

A lign diversity, equity, and inclusion with business priorities.
B uild strong partnerships with stakeholders.
C ultivate a culture of role models.
D efine objectives and outcomes with data.

Q: What is the biggest takeaway from your book for senior business leaders?

Brown: The greater the diversity of your team, the greater the insights you will have, because no two people on the planet have the exact same world view or experience, not even identical twins. Diversity, equity, and inclusion work is not about the exclusion of one group for the benefit of another, nor is it about checking boxes. It is about ensuring you can leverage the full range of talent available internally and externally and can access a range of perspectives and customer insights.

Companies that do this well could outperform those that don’t. My goal is to help organizations see diversity, equity, and inclusion as an opportunity to drive people and business success, not a liability to be managed.

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