Why DEI Leaders Are Burning Out — and How Organizations Can Help

Harvard Business Review January 24, 2024
Kelly Pledger Weeks, Nicolina Taylor, Alison Hall Birch, Myrtle P. Bell, Anna Nottingham, Louwanda Evans

Summary: Why do DEI leaders burn out so quickly? Research finds that this job demands constant emotional labor and surface acting, particularly for professionals of color. As a result, frustration and exhaustion mount. One solution stems from the way DEI programs are designed. The authors found that when programs take what’s known as a discrimination-and-fairness paradigm approach, DEI leaders experience more burnout because the organization’s focus assumes employee differences are sources of problems that must be managed. Alternatively, when organizations take a learning-and-effectiveness approach, which values employees for...

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