“Each of these sparks is linked to a specific threat about which society had been fully informed but against which it had left itself poorly protected. Afterward, the fact that these sparks were foreseeable but poorly foreseen gives rise to a new sense of urgency about institutional dysfunction and civic vulnerability. This marks the beginning of the vertiginous spiral of crisis.”
~ William Strauss, The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny
Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
In with George Floyd, out with the wind.
That’s the direction Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are taking inside America’s corporate world. It looks like social change is now destined to be made on the long tail of the Fourth Turning…
Once pummelled into the heads of corporate executives after the George Floyd movement less companies are focusing on DEI in quarterly corporate reports – initiatives focused on race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Axios reports:
“The backlash is real”: Behind DEI’s rise and fall
“Companies were hiring for these positions “out of guilt,” he says, noting that in 2020 he was pursued by more than a dozen employers.”
DEI programs are changing to promote more inclusive opportunities.
Here’s what this looks like on Wall Street.
Bloomberg reports:
Wall Street’s DEI Retreat Has Officially Begun
“Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has made a surprising change to its “Possibilities Summit” for Black college students: It’s opened the program to White students.
At Bank of America Corp., certain internal programs that used to focus on women and minorities have been broadened to include everyone.
And at Bank of New York Mellon Corp., executives are being urged to reconsider hard metrics for workforce diversity. Lose them, lawyers have advised.
This is what diversity, equity and inclusion looks like on Wall Street today: anxious, fraught – and changing fast.”
According to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, things did change fast. In 2021, the S&P 100 increased their workforce by 323,094. That included the hiring of 302,570 (or 94%) people of color, and 20,524 (or 16%) white workers – a massive uptrend.
Now the trend seems to be levelling out.
What’s more interesting though, is not the defeat of debunking an almost mentally ill way of thinking. It is that after understanding the implications of uncertainty and anxiety, especially in the banking sector, employers want the opposite.
They want to find stability and certainty. They are finding that with common ground, offering similar opportunities to more employees through unifying, inclusive institutional policies.
That is what happens during a Fourth Turning.
Uncertainty, anxiety and fear grip the world because of things people knew wouldn’t turn out well, but went ahead with anyway. Threats riveted with unclear solutions ratchet up the chaos.
Yet, after the chaos and storms come something new:
Towards a new First Turning, with more inclusive institutions.
That being said, perhaps DEI won’t become entirely non-existent, but reshaped and reframed inside of newly structured institutions.
