By Dr. Poornima Luthra
Why recognizing and overcoming fear is essential for creating truly inclusive organizations
There is evidence of a growing resistance to DEI in organizations, and the reason, argues Poornima Luthra, is fear. Here, drawing on extensive research, she identifies core fears hindering progress and outlines five leadership qualities – openness, curiosity, vulnerability, courage, and resilience – to transform perceived threats into opportunities.
Despite compelling evidence that workplaces remain inequitable and non-inclusive, Europe and the world are seeing a rising backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Between 2020 and 2023, the number of companies without DEI programmes grew, and leader support dropped by 18 per cent.1 Deloitte’s 2024 Global Human Capital Trends report finds that while 76 per cent of companies acknowledge the importance of DEI, only 10 per cent are taking concrete action.2
Why aren’t we making more progress?
The Root Cause: Fear
Through research including analysis of 200+ news articles, surveys of 460 respondents, and interviews with 28 global experts, one conclusion became clear: fear is at the heart of DEI resistance. Fear is powerful, often unspoken, and deeply tied to perceived threat. It is also an emotion that elicits discomfort.
DEI initiatives trigger various forms of threat – status, merit, moral, group identity, symbolic, realistic, and more.3 These trigger fear responses. In my data, 52 per cent of respondents feel fear when engaging with DEI, and 56 per cent feel it sometimes or often. The data also shows that we are fearful of fear itself.
Common fears include:
- Not knowing the right words
- Saying or doing the wrong thing
- Conflict when addressing inequity
- Being seen as the “DEI / woke police”
- Career impact when addressing bias
From my research, five primary fears emerged:
- Fear of Change – fear of losing power, space, familiarity, or business performance.
- Fear of Getting It Wrong – fear of mistakes, being cancelled, or not knowing enough.
- Fear of Discomfort – fear of difficult conversations or confronting one’s biases.
- Fear of Taking Action and Its Consequences – fear of conflict, career risk, or burnout.
- Fear of Lack of Positive Impact – fear that efforts won’t matter or will backfire.
Understanding the Backlash
Backlash tends to fall into three categories:
- Denial: “DEI isn’t needed; everyone is treated equally,” or “I don’t see colour.”
- Passive resistance: This is the most difficult to detect. People may attend training but avoid meaningful action, delay change, or subtly withhold support.
- Active resistance: Openly blocking DEI efforts through criticism, accusations, intimidation, or fear-mongering (“DEI will rock the boat”).
Backlash can emerge from any group, including senior leaders and DEI practitioners themselves.
Backlash can emerge from any group, including senior leaders and DEI practitioners themselves. A 2024 Institute for Corporate Productivity report shows that managers (37 per cent) and frontline workers (34 per cent) are significant internal blockers.4 Even DEI advocates and practitioners sometimes succumb to avoidance because of the emotional toll that is reflected in the average tenure of DEI professionals being just three years.5
From Threat to Opportunity: Five Qualities to Overcome Fear
The question becomes: how do we move from seeing DEI initiatives as a threat to viewing them as an opportunity? To effectively overcome our fear, I share five key qualities: openness, curiosity, vulnerability, courage, and resilience in my book Can I Say That?: Your Go-To Guide to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.6
1. Openness: Overcoming the Fear of Change
Addressing fear of change starts with openness to new experiences, ideas, ways of thinking, and, crucially, to people different from us. Openness helps shift DEI initiatives from being perceived as a threat to being seen as an opportunity.
Recognize your privilege. Many leaders struggle with the idea of privilege, associating it with guilt or shame. In reality, privilege is simply a system of unearned advantages available to dominant groups. It is fluid, relative, contextual, and intersectional.
Being open to DEI initiatives requires acknowledging privilege. Awareness of systemic inequities and the advantages we enjoy allows us to become more open to levelling the playing field. Leaders should reflect on privilege across gender, age, ability, appearance, education, race, ethnicity, marital status, and wealth, and consider how it shapes workplace dynamics – from who drives strategy to whose voice is heard.
Debunk the myths. Challenge the myth of meritocracy. While merit matters, bias and privilege play a large role. For example, research shows that 40 per cent of Black women feel they must repeatedly prove their competence, compared to 28 per cent of White women and 14 per cent of men.7 Believing that success is solely merit-based can fuel resentment toward DEI initiatives.
Another common myth: DEI doesn’t benefit me. There is plenty of evidence that shows that inclusive workplaces improve overall employee well-being, satisfaction, retention, productivity, engagement, decision-making, and innovation.
Move from a scarcity to an abundance mindset. Viewing DEI as a zero-sum game fosters a scarcity mindset and “power over” models of competition. Melanie Joy’s How to End Injustice Everywhere encourages a shift to a “power with” model, using power in service of the greater good.8
DEI isn’t a pie where one person’s slice leaves less for everyone else. The “curb cut effect” illustrates how accessibility benefits everyone; curb cuts for disabled people also help cyclists, parents with strollers, and travellers with luggage. Diverse, inclusive teams solve problems faster, make better decisions, and increase creativity. A 10 per cent rise in perceptions of inclusion reduces absenteeism by nearly a day per employee;9 inclusive cultures show a 59 per cent boost in innovation and openness.10
Decentre yourself. When spaces cater to us, we occupy disproportionate time and opportunities. Imagine favouring one child with all the weekly biscuits; redistributing fairly may feel unfair to the favoured child, though it corrects an imbalance. DEI isn’t about denying anyone opportunities but about addressing systemic inequities.
Leaders can decentre themselves through micro-affirmations: invite unheard perspectives, offer seats on panels to colleagues, advocate for diverse speakers, recommend competent colleagues from marginalized groups, and actively sponsor them, amplifying voices in spaces they might otherwise lack access to.
2. Curiosity: Overcoming the Fear of Getting it Wrong
Addressing the fear of getting it wrong requires curiosity – curiosity to unlearn, learn, and make mistakes. Through curiosity, we expand our understanding of bias and discrimination, enabling us to see DEI not as a threat, but as an opportunity for growth and self-development.
Unlearn and learn. Organizations often reward knowing rather than learning. Many evaluation criteria focus on what we already know, not on how we adapt or challenge assumptions. Understanding bias usually begins with unlearning lifelong assumptions. We need to make the familiar strange, questioning what we’ve taken for granted as “just how it is”.
Language evolves, and DEI terms vary across cultural contexts. In the US, DEI often focuses on racial inequity; in Japan, on gender and age; in India, on caste, gender, and religious inequities. A “glocal” (global-local) approach ensures that language and initiatives are both inclusive and relevant to the context.11
Educate yourself. Experiences of discrimination are not universal. It’s our responsibility to unlearn stereotypes and biases, rather than rely on marginalized individuals to educate us. Many business best practices come from Global North or colonial perspectives. Applying them without context risks ignoring local practices that may be better suited to the environment. Educating ourselves cross-culturally and incorporating local and indigenous knowledge is essential. Decolonizing what we know widens understanding and effectiveness.
Be inclusive in communication. Exclusionary communication may appear minor but accumulates over time, harming psychological and physical health, and reducing productivity and problem-solving. Examples include competency-related comments (“You’re fortunate to be a woman; there are opportunities”), interrupting or speaking over someone, taking credit for others’ ideas, and identity-based assumptions (“Where are you actually from?”).
Leaders can check their language, question phrases reflecting societal stereotypes, and disrupt patterns: say “hers and his” instead of “his and hers,” greet Black or Brown colleagues first in meetings, or challenge assumptions about roles (don’t default to assuming that a builder, lawyer, or doctor is male). Engage inclusively: avoid jargon, ask yourself “flip” questions to check possible bias (would you ask this to a man or White woman?), redirect stolen credit, and challenge interruptions.
Engage in intelligent failures. Mistakes are inevitable, especially in new DEI efforts. Professor Amy Edmondson distinguishes basic failures (human error) from intelligent failures – small, informed mistakes in new territory that provide learning opportunities.12 While there are some actions that should be avoided at all cost given the harm they cause, approaching DEI work as an experiment helps us to accept mistakes, extract insights, and refine actions. Focus on progress, not perfection.
Ask: What can I learn here? How can my language be more inclusive? What do I need to explore further? Every misstep is a chance to grow personally and advance organizational DEI.
3. Vulnerability: Overcoming the Fear of Discomfort
No one wants to be in a conversation where they feel uncomfortable, guilty, shameful, or as if they are “bad”. Even the possibility of discomfort often keeps people from engaging in DEI initiatives. Yet, to acknowledge the biases within ourselves requires vulnerability.
Get comfortable with discomfort. Everyone is biased. We all rely on mental shortcuts to help us make sense of the information our brain receives. Our biases – consciously or unconsciously – influence our words, actions, and decisions. Many of us feel ashamed of being biased, because we want to be seen as fair and rational, even though few of us are entirely so.
Because bias is associated with being “bad”, realizing that we hold biases or having them pointed out triggers discomfort. But discomfort is necessary; it’s the only way we can recognize and block bias. In DEI work, discomfort is inevitable. The journey toward equity and inclusion will include many uncomfortable moments, yet these moments are natural, expected, and a sign of commitment. They also provide the richest opportunities for self-reflection and growth.
Reframing discomfort can help. Discomfort is where trust is formed, and trust is fundamental to human interactions. By embracing discomfort and having difficult conversations about bias and discrimination, we add positive value; discomfort becomes a tool for building trust and fostering inclusion. Most people instinctively avoid discomfort. Comfort zones aren’t wrong, but staying in them too long dulls our sensitivities. New experiences create new neural pathways that are essential for developing new and inclusive behaviours.
An effective way to mitigate the influence of bias is to challenge your gut. Question instinctive decisions. Ask why and how repeatedly until you are confident you’ve made every effort to block bias from your decision-making process.
Centre the discomfort of others. If DEI initiatives feel uncomfortable, consider how underestimated and historically marginalized groups feel when facing discrimination daily. You may have only recently thought about your race, skin colour, or sexual orientation but, for others, these factors are a constant consideration.
Respond constructively when bias is pointed out. One of the most uncomfortable situations is having our own bias highlighted. Common reactions include defensiveness, avoidance, or walking away. Leaders should instead:
- Listen attentively and limit interruptions
- Avoid defensiveness or dismissing concerns
- Acknowledge the negative impact of words or actions
- Apologize sincerely, without justifying or over-apologizing
- Ask questions to deepen understanding
- Reflect and take feedback seriously
Educate themselves to unlearn what was previously considered acceptable and learn to be more inclusive
Reject binary thinking. We live in a polarized world where we are conditioned toward dichotomous thinking: being pro-DEI is often misinterpreted as being anti-White, anti-men, or anti-cisgender. This false dichotomy shuts down nuanced conversation. Being pro-DEI means critiquing systems, not people. Critiquing patriarchy does not mean hating men; examining racism does not mean hating White people.
To create space for multiple realities to coexist, move from debate to discussion and dialogue. In debates, each party defends a position, leaving one winner and fostering defensiveness. Discussions and dialogues, on the other hand, allow multiple perspectives to coexist. They open space for learning, self-reflection, and examining assumptions while understanding others’ realities.
4. Courage: Overcoming the Fear of Taking Action and Its Personal Consequences
Those engaged in DEI initiatives often fear personal consequences – being labelled the “DEI police”, lacking support, jeopardizing careers, or risking safety. Moving forward requires courage.
Develop your DEI purpose statement. Know your “why”. Why are you involved in DEI work? Why does it matter? In difficult moments, your personal “why” serves as an anchor. Leading with conviction means believing that: (1) inequity exists and must be addressed, (2) inclusion and equity are the right thing to do, and (3) your organization benefits from it.
Identify core values such as fairness, justice, or respect, reflect on what you hope DEI efforts will achieve, and craft a personal DEI purpose statement to guide your actions.
Know what to expect. Negative thoughts about what could go wrong are natural, but avoid catastrophizing. Visualize the consequences of engaging versus not engaging in DEI initiatives. Ask yourself: How likely is the worst-case scenario? What conditions would make it happen? Reflect on past experiences, what might happen if bias goes unaddressed, and how to engage differently to mitigate risks.
Plan your move. Addressing bias and discrimination often requires courageous conversations. Options include addressing bias in the moment, later, or not at all if it’s unsafe. Most biases should and can be addressed.
Use questions and comments in a non-confrontational tone to prompt reflection, e.g., “Can you tell me more about where you are coming from?” or “What was your intention in saying that?” Approach conversations with empathy. Today it’s someone else’s bias, tomorrow it could be your own.
Prioritize self-care. DEI work can be emotionally taxing. Mary-Frances Winters describes the toll as “the extra effort it takes daily to manage microaggressions, discrimination, inequities, or the stories of others, along with the fear, frustration, and anger that result.”13 Leaders should watch for diversity fatigue, burnout, isolation, and emotional triggers, noting that the average tenure in DEI roles is just three years.14
To manage these challenges, build support systems and allies; process feelings by asking, “What am I feeling?” and “Why?”; set boundaries around emotionally draining work; and give yourself grace by keeping realistic short-term expectations while pursuing long-term goals.
5. Resilience: Overcoming the Fear of Lack of Positive Impact
Those engaged in DEI initiatives may sometimes feel helpless, as if, no matter what they do or say, change won’t happen. This fear comes from underestimating how long it takes to nurture truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations. Overcoming it requires resilience.
We need to be in this for the long haul. Systemic and cultural bias have been built over centuries and will take time to dismantle and replace.
Be patient. In our fast-paced world, we expect actions to yield results quickly. When it comes to DEI initiatives, we need to rethink that approach. The lack of diverse representation, inequitable systems, and non-inclusive cultures stems from systemic and institutional bias with deep roots in colonization, slavery, and capitalism. Dismantling these systems of oppression will take time.
There is no easy fix. We need to be in this for the long haul. Systemic and cultural bias have been built over centuries and will take time to dismantle and replace. Patience does not mean we shouldn’t act, but we must have realistic expectations of the speed at which we’ll see impact.
Start small and build. Change happens through consistent, everyday actions. Occasional grand gestures are useful, but frequent, small actions by many people create the foundation for lasting cultural change. Examples include acknowledging presence through eye contact and listening, validating identities by respecting names and pronouns, appreciating contributions, and actively sponsoring competent individuals from underrepresented groups.
Focus on progress, not perfection. Mistakes are opportunities to unlearn, learn, and grow. Concentrate on inclusive actions rather than immediate outcomes. Results will come, often in unexpected ways. Small actions create ripple effects that drive broader change.
Make systemic and cultural change happen. Avoid performative DEI actions. Ask: Does this activity block bias and dismantle inequity in organizational systems, structures, processes, or culture? Effective initiatives may include inclusive hiring and talent development, pay equity exercises, accessible facilities, flexible working options, and involving diverse stakeholders in product or service design.
Trust the purpose of DEI initiatives. At their core, DEI efforts aim to level the playing field and create inclusive, representative workplaces. Having trust that DEI is the right thing to do sustains hope when progress seems slow. Resilience grows from this trust. When shared values, collective action, and trust are present, setbacks become opportunities to learn and persevere rather than reasons to give up.
The Way Forward
Change is not straightforward or easy, but change is what is needed to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. DEI will not be “solved” by 2025 or 2050. There is no end date; we are in it for the long haul. Learning to recognize our fears and how to overcome them is the first step on a journey towards a more inclusive world.
The question for business leaders today is clear: Are you ready to lead through fear?
