After years of leading equity initiatives, bridging communication gaps, and helping organizations meet the moment, many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) executives are quietly being pushed to the sidelines. Their roles have been sunset. Their teams have been cut. And in many cases, their phones aren’t ringing.
It’s hard to believe that the same corporate world that was scrambling to hire DEI leaders in 2020 now seems afraid to even say the word.
The DEI executive is facing a unique kind of career identity crisis. The very roles that were once seen as urgent are now being deprioritized, often without acknowledgment of the critical skills they required. Behind closed doors, many of these professionals are asking: What do I do now? And perhaps more importantly, how do I talk about what I’ve done in a way that still matters?
Let’s say the quiet part out loud: organizations may be walking away from the titles, but they shouldn’t be walking away from the talent.
The Peak and the Pullback
In 2020, following global uprisings for racial justice, corporate America made bold commitments to equity. Job postings with a diversity focus surged by more than 123% compared to the year before. Chief Diversity Officers became one of the fastest-growing roles in the C-suite. Companies raced to show progress.
But that momentum didn’t last. By late 2023, DEI-related roles had dropped by 33%. Teams were dissolved. Titles were reassigned. DEI budgets were quietly folded into broader HR and communications departments. The message was clear: performative urgency replaced sustained investment.
When the Work Becomes the Risk
Leaders in these roles weren’t just navigating internal change. They were managing cultural pressure, organizational trauma, and political tension, often with limited support and no roadmap. They became spokespersons, healers, culture translators, and crisis communicators. The burnout was real. And when tides shifted, many of these professionals became easy targets.
What once felt like mission-critical work began to feel like a liability. Many were thanked for their service and moved aside. And the ones still standing are often under-resourced and isolated.
Talent, Not Trend
Here’s the truth: these roles weren’t fluff. They were serious business. The people who led them were, in many cases, cross-trained professionals who had already built successful careers in communications, marketing, operations, and legal. They weren’t activists dropped into the boardroom. They were highly qualified leaders who learned to marry business strategy with moral clarity and human experience.
According to SHRM, nearly half of the professionals who stepped into diversity leadership roles between 2020 and 2022 had previously held leadership roles in non-DEI departments. Many are now retraining in areas like AI policy, ESG reporting, and organizational change. They are not retreating. They are evolving.
What This Work Really Required
Let’s be honest about what these roles entailed:
- Leading teams through public crisis communications
- Managing high-stakes stakeholder engagement
- Building new systems for talent development and retention
- Facilitating emotionally complex, politically sensitive conversations
These aren’t niche functions. They’re executive competencies. According to a 2023 Deloitte report, inclusive leaders outperform their peers in areas like decision-making speed, innovation, and employee trust.
So why are companies so quick to forget?
Don’t Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater
Let’s not confuse discomfort with irrelevance. The title may be fading, but the talent behind it remains essential and too often overlooked. These professionals helped steer company culture through volatility, shaped frameworks for equity and accountability, and offered guidance during complex internal and external conversations.
And yet, many organizations are now distancing themselves. The shift is quiet, uncomfortable, and in many cases, unspoken. What began as highly visible work has become invisible—or worse, untouchable.
One former Chief Diversity Officer told me, “I broke bread with my executive team. I led their offsites. Now, I can’t even get a call back.”
Another shared that a panelist dropped out of a conversation on brand storytelling after learning that she, a former DEI leader, would also be on the panel, even though the panel had nothing to do with equity work.
One senior leader even confessed to quietly scrubbing his LinkedIn profile of any mention of DEI.
“It was the only way I could get interviews,” he admitted.
This experience is not unique. A 2023 report by McKinsey found that while 70% of organizations say DEI is important to their mission, only 32% say their organizations have the resources to deliver on it consistently. And in a 2024 survey by Paradigm, more than half of former DEI leaders said they had no clear career path forward in their organization.
The regression is part of a broader post-Trump-era climate shift. In early 2025, new Executive Orders eliminated DEI roles across federal agencies and contractors, prompting widespread policy reversals and funding cuts. According to Reuters, over 20% of S&P 100 companies have backed away from public equity commitments. And The Washington Post reports that mentions of DEI in S&P 500 firms’ 10-K filings dropped from 12.5% in 2022 to just 4% in 2024. The message: distance, deflect, defund.
That’s not just a missed opportunity. It’s a loss of deeply experienced, resilient leadership.
These professionals are not liabilities. They are proven communicators, trusted advisors, and systems thinkers who know how to build and rebuild under pressure. If your company is navigating transformation, uncertainty, or reputational risk, their expertise may be exactly what you need next.
These professionals are not liabilities. They are proven communicators, trusted advisors, and systems thinkers who know how to build and rebuild under pressure. If your company is navigating transformation, uncertainty, or reputational risk, their expertise may be exactly what you need next.
Reclaiming the Narrative: Tips for Practitioners
If your role has been eliminated or deprioritized, this is your moment to step back and get strategic. Here are a few practical ways to begin strengthening your narrative, refining your positioning, and translating your impact for your next opportunity:
- Audit your impact. List the systems you built, policies you shaped, crises you helped manage, and moments you led with clarity. Don’t just track activities—track outcomes. Did employee retention improve? Did engagement scores rise? Did public perception shift?
- Translate your value. Practice rewriting your contributions using business-aligned language. Instead of “led DEI training,” try “strengthened manager readiness for inclusive leadership, reducing attrition and increasing team engagement.” Instead of “hosted employee town halls,” try “navigated high-trust stakeholder engagement across departments during periods of organizational change.”
- Tell a bigger story. Anchor your narrative in the executive competencies you demonstrated: crisis communications, talent development, risk management, brand stewardship. Use clear, strategic language that showcases your versatility beyond your title.
- Rebuild your network with intention. Reach out to past collaborators, sponsors, and champions. Ask how they would describe your strengths or how your work made their jobs easier. Their reflections can sharpen your language and help you position yourself for new opportunities.
- Refresh your materials. On your resume and LinkedIn profile, lead with what you achieved, not what you were called. Consider a headline like “Strategic Leader | Culture and Communications Advisor | Trusted Voice on Workplace Change.” Use your summary to highlight your breadth of experience and the value you’re ready to bring.
This is not about watering down your impact. It’s about broadening its reach.
Your work held real weight. Your next chapter deserves a story that does, too.
What Comes Next
For professionals in transition, this is a moment to get grounded. Take inventory of the wins. The skills. The hard conversations. The systems you shaped. The moments you held space. Rewrite your story in plain language, and center what you made possible.
The job market may have shifted, but your value hasn’t. You already know how to navigate complexity. Use that same skill to reimagine your path.
The work isn’t over. It’s evolving. And your next chapter might be the one where people finally understand what your role really was.
About the Author
Faye McCray leads strategic content and marketing for Engage for Good. She has led high-impact communications at RVO Health and Well+Good and Livestrong, and she is a writer and consultant specializing in helping organizations and executives navigate change, crisis, and reinvention. As a media-trained speaker and strategist, Faye has appeared on Fox News, NBC News, and Good Day DC, and has presented at national platforms including SXSW, Ad Week, Aspen Ideas, and TEDx. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, Newsweek, and AARP Magazine.
