Issue 12

By David Thomas Graves

The Issue

The core issue with modern workplace inclusivity is that it has shifted from ensuring equal opportunity to manufacturing equal outcomes, a well-intentioned but deeply flawed approach that undermines trust, performance, and ambition. Instead of focusing on removing barriers so that talent, effort, and drive determine success, many companies now prioritize demographic representation as the ultimate measure of fairness. This leads to hiring quotas, promotion mandates, and performance evaluations that favor optics over ability, creating a culture where employees question whether they were chosen for their skills or their identity. 

The result? High performers disengage, workplace morale suffers, and inclusivity, meant to empower and uplift, instead breeds quiet resentment and division. The focus should be on building an environment where the best ideas and talent naturally rise, not on engineering results to fit a predetermined vision of equity.

When Fairness Becomes Forced: The Danger of Engineering Outcomes

Inclusivity was supposed to be about fairness. About making sure everyone has a real shot at success. About breaking down the barriers that stop people from reaching their full potential. That’s the promise companies made when they embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. But somewhere along the way, something changed. Inclusivity stopped being about opportunity and started being about outcomes, not just ensuring a fair starting line, but engineering the finish line.

At first glance, this shift might seem like progress. After all, if the goal is fairness, wouldn’t a fair workplace produce equal results across the board? But the moment we move from creating access to controlling results, we step into dangerous territory. Because when inclusivity is reduced to numbers on a spreadsheet, it stops being about unlocking human potential and starts being about controlling perception. And in that process, companies aren’t building trust, they’re eroding it.

The problem isn’t just philosophical. It’s practical. Workplaces that focus on equalizing results instead of creating fair opportunities don’t just stifle ambition, they create resentment. Employees start to wonder if their achievements are recognized for their effort or if they’re simply a function of a quota. High performers begin to disengage when they see that the game has been rigged. And the very people these policies are meant to help end up feeling devalued because their success is questioned rather than celebrated.

This isn’t how you build a workforce that thrives. This is how you create an environment where people stop pushing themselves, stop striving for excellence, and stop believing that their work actually matters.

The Core Issue: Are We Fixing the Game or Just Rigging the Scoreboard?

At the heart of the inclusivity debate is a fundamental question: Are we ensuring everyone has an equal chance to succeed, or are we trying to manufacture the illusion of fairness by controlling results?

On one side is equality of opportunity, the idea that fairness means removing barriers, giving people access to resources, and letting individuals rise based on their ambition, talent, and effort. This is the foundation of a thriving, competitive workforce. It’s a system that allows people to earn their success rather than having it handed to them.

On the other side is equality of outcome, which argues that fairness can only be achieved when results are evenly distributed across different demographic groups. This isn’t about ensuring everyone starts with the same opportunities - it’s about making sure the scoreboard reflects a predetermined vision of equity. And the only way to guarantee that kind of fairness is by artificially adjusting the results - ether through hiring quotas, promotion mandates, or other policies designed to produce specific outcomes.

The danger of this approach is that it devalues achievement by making success feel managed instead of earned. It tells employees that their performance matters less than the categories they fit into. And that, in turn, breeds distrust, disengagement, and lower overall performance. Because if the finish line is pre-determined, why bother running?

If companies want to foster real inclusivity, they have to recognize the difference between giving people a fair shot and forcing a specific result. Because the moment you start rigging the scoreboard, you lose the very thing that makes a workplace thrive: motivation, innovation, and trust in the system.

The DEI Dilemma: Is Diversity About Metrics or Merit?

Diversity, equity, and inclusion started as an attempt to correct systemic imbalances that had historically limited access to certain opportunities. At its best, DEI was about breaking down real barriers - gender bias, racial discrimination, economic disadvantages, that prevented talented individuals from getting the same opportunities as others. It was about opening doors that had long been closed.

But somewhere along the way, DEI lost its focus. Instead of being about access and opportunity, it became about outcomes and optics. Companies stopped asking, “How do we ensure the best ideas and talent rise?” and started asking, “How do we make sure our leadership team reflects certain demographic ratios?”

The result? DEI efforts began to shift from building inclusive cultures to managing representation metrics. And when diversity becomes a numbers game, the real value of inclusion is lost. Employees start feeling like their identity is their primary asset, rather than their capabilities and contributions. This breeds quiet resentment, not just from those who feel overlooked, but from the very people these policies were meant to help. Because when success is managed rather than earned, it creates doubt instead of confidence.

Real diversity isn’t about engineering representation, it’s about creating an environment where talent from all backgrounds has the chance to thrive. The difference is crucial. A workplace that prioritizes true inclusion will attract and retain the best talent naturally because people know that they’re being judged on their ability, not their demographic profile. But a workplace that forces representation at the expense of merit? That creates division, skepticism, and lower overall trust in the system.

The Millennial Factor: When the Starting Line Moves

If inclusivity is about fairness, then we need to acknowledge a critical reality: not everyone starts from the same place. And sometimes, entire generations get left behind due to economic shifts that were beyond their control.

Millennials are a prime example. This generation entered the workforce during one of the worst economic downturns in history, the 2008 financial crisis. Hiring freezes, mass layoffs, and a brutal job market meant that many never got the early career experience that previous generations took for granted. 

Those lost years had a compounding effect, setting Millennials back in terms of promotions, wages, and career stability. Meanwhile, Generation X entered a much more stable economy, where promotions and long-term job security were expected rather than fought for.

So what does fairness look like here? Should companies adjust hiring and promotion policies to make up for the disadvantages Millennials faced? Should they be prioritized in leadership pipelines to compensate for lost years?

The answer isn’t rewriting history, it’s making sure that the past doesn’t become a permanent disadvantage. That means building mentorship programs, leadership training, and career acceleration tracks to help those who lost critical career years catch up. Not by lowering standards, but by giving people access to the tools they need to rise on their own merits.

If inclusivity is about fairness, it can’t just be about who’s represented at the table today - it has to be about how we ensure that opportunity remains accessible to those who were unfairly set back.

The Labor Equation: Time, Skill, and Experience - What Actually Matters?

If companies want to get inclusivity right, they need to stop focusing on identity categories and start focusing on capabilities. Because at the end of the day, success in the workplace isn’t about labels, it’s about value.

Value comes down to three things:

Time: The dedication and effort someone puts into their craft.

Skill: The ability to perform at a high level.

Experience: The lessons learned through doing, failing, and improving over time.

When a workplace measures what actually matters, rather than trying to engineer results based on external pressures, they create an environment where people thrive. This is what real inclusivity looks like: a system where talent rises, where effort is rewarded, and where no one is held back or artificially lifted up based on factors beyond their control.

If companies are serious about building inclusive cultures, they need to redefine what fairness actually means. It’s not about equalizing outcomes. It’s about ensuring that every person has the tools, support, and opportunity to rise based on their own ambition and ability.

And when you build a workplace like that? You don’t just create inclusivity.

You create an unstoppable force.

The Consequences of Getting Inclusivity Wrong

When inclusivity is misunderstood or misapplied, companies don’t just lose efficiency - they lose trust. Employees who feel they’re being judged on metrics rather than merit disengage. High performers become frustrated, sensing that effort matters less than optics. And those who benefit from forced inclusivity policies often question their own worth, wondering if they earned their place or were simply placed there.

The impact goes deeper than just morale. When a company prioritizes appearances over actual ability, it risks making worse decisions at every level. Promotions based on quotas instead of competence lead to weaker leadership. Hiring policies that favor diversity statistics over actual skill lower overall team performance. And in industries where precision, experience, and expertise determine success - such as engineering, healthcare, or finance, the results can be catastrophic.

The most dangerous aspect of forced inclusivity is that it undermines confidence in the system itself. The entire concept of fairness is rooted in trust - that hard work, talent, and perseverance will be recognized and rewarded. The moment that trust is eroded, people stop believing in the system. They stop striving. They stop caring. They either quiet quit, disengaging while doing the bare minimum, or they leave entirely, seeking an environment where their abilities are truly valued.

And here’s the brutal truth: when companies push inclusivity in a way that weakens trust, they don’t become stronger, they become weaker. The best people leave. The ones who stay lose motivation. Performance drops. And all the well-intentioned policies that were meant to create fairness end up creating dysfunction.

This isn’t just theory. We’ve seen it play out in real time. Companies that implemented aggressive hiring quotas without considering merit have struggled with internal backlash, lower engagement scores, and even lawsuits from employees who feel discriminated against for not fitting the right profile. Some have backpedaled quietly, realizing that their best workers were leaving, while others have doubled down, refusing to acknowledge that the very policies meant to promote inclusion were actually creating division.

Real inclusivity is about trust, growth, and opportunity, not about artificially managing results to make the numbers look good. And the companies that understand this? They don’t just retain their best people. They attract them.

A Better Path Forward: What Real Inclusivity Looks Like

If we’re serious about creating workplaces where people thrive, then we need to rethink inclusivity from the ground up. That means shifting away from optics-based policies and focusing on real, measurable solutions that actually open doors.

The first step is recognizing that fairness is not about results - it’s about access. A fair system doesn’t guarantee where you’ll end up, but it does ensure that everyone has a real shot at success. This means breaking down actual barriers, whether that’s bias in hiring, lack of mentorship for underrepresented groups, or systemic disadvantages like limited access to education and training.

But breaking down barriers is not the same as manipulating outcomes. A company committed to true inclusivity must focus on empowering people to succeed, not guaranteeing their success. That means investing in:

Mentorship and professional development programs that give high-potential employees the resources to grow.

Leadership pipelines based on ability and achievement, not on demographic balancing acts.

Hiring practices that identify and remove actual biases while maintaining a commitment to excellence.

Workplace cultures that value perspective and experience, not just surface-level diversity.

Companies that adopt this approach will naturally become more diverse, not because they’re managing the numbers, but because they’re creating an environment where talented people from all backgrounds can rise. That’s the difference between true inclusion and managed representation. One builds a system where the best thrive. The other builds a system where success is predetermined, and real achievement is diluted.

There’s no question that diversity matters. Teams with different perspectives and life experiences make better decisions. Companies with a broad range of voices avoid groupthink and adapt better to market shifts. But for diversity to be valuable, it has to be organic - driven by a culture that recognizes talent, rewards effort, and respects contribution.

That’s what companies should be striving for. Not a rigged system that produces the “right” numbers, but a truly competitive, high-performing culture where the best people, regardless of background, rise to the top.

The Bottom Line: Why This Matters Now More Than Ever

The workplace is changing faster than ever. The rise of remote work, generational shifts in values, and the increasing demand for transparency and fairness have made it impossible for companies to ignore the impact of their inclusivity policies. But while the pressure to demonstrate diversity is greater than ever, so is the need to get it right.

Employees today can see through corporate PR. They know when they’re being recruited for their skills versus when they’re being hired to fill a quota. And in an era where top talent can work from anywhere, companies that fail to build trust-based, opportunity-driven cultures will lose their best people to those that do.

This isn’t just about doing the right thing, it’s about winning in the marketplace. Organizations that get inclusivity right will attract and retain top-tier talent, build stronger teams, and drive real innovation. Those that get it wrong will see distrust, disengagement, and decline.

So the real question for leaders is this: Are you creating a workplace where people feel valued for their contributions, or are you creating a system where success is just another managed statistic?

The companies that answer that question honestly, and act on it, won’t just be more inclusive. They’ll be unstoppable.

© David Thomas Graves 2025