Corporate Leadership
Anti-DEI Outcry Online Spurs Flurry of Big-Name Firms to Retreat
- Ford joins handful of companies rolling back DEI initiatives
- Pressure on firms to end DEI led by right-wing influencer
Companies across the US have been reassessing their diversity initiatives to comply with a changing legal landscape.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
At the end of July 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged and unprecedented supply-chain challenges distorted markets, then-Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Jim Hackett started the company’s earnings call not with financials or strategy but with a message on racial justice and the murder of George Floyd.
“Ford is committed to leading from the front, with action to enable social mobility and economic success in the African American community,” Hackett said. Floyd’s death is “much more than a moment in time that will fade, but rather we must make it a turning point for our society.”