Restoring the Connection Between Principles and Practices: The J.E.D.I. Leader’s Mission

DEI is under siege. Race politics are inflamed. The cultural pendulum has swung violently—from the performative safety of political correctness to the weaponized cynicism of apolitical trolling. And in the rubble of this ideological whiplash, it’s not just DEI professionals, consultants, authors, and advocates who are left holding the pieces.

The real casualties are people—employees pushed to the margins, communities left behind, customers underserved, the environment deprioritized, and shareholders misled by the illusion of “safe” regression.

In 2019, nearly 200 of America’s top CEOs—members of the Business Roundtable—declared a new standard for corporate purpose. They stepped away from the narrow tunnel vision of shareholder primacy and leaned into stakeholder capitalism. Not because it was trendy. Not because it was moral.

But because it was necessary for sustainable performance in a multifactorial world.

That proclamation remains buried on their website today.

Only 14 of those 200 companies—Apple, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Cisco, Costco, Delta Airlines, Nasdaq, the NFL, Pinterest, Salesforce, American Airlines, e.l.f. Beauty, Deutsche Bank, and Ben & Jerry’s—have continued to walk the talk in 2025, publicly affirming or expanding their investments in diversity, equity, and inclusion. These organizations chose courage over convenience—and it’s paid off. Axios Harris Poll reputation scores are rising. And collectively, these companies have delivered share price growth of over 140% since 2020.

Let that sink in: principled leadership is profitable.

The Core Question: What Should We Expect of Our Leaders?

In a time of moral confusion and institutional retreat, this is the question we must confront—not just in our boardrooms, but in our communities, classrooms, and conversations.

What do we really expect of those who hold power?

Because being a boss is easy. You enforce rules. You issue deadlines. You measure outputs. You get rewarded for results. And when the culture erodes or the team fragments, you call HR.

But real leadership—intentional leadership—is something else entirely. It requires empathy, integrity, and structure. It demands that you care as much about how the work gets done as the fact that it gets done at all.

A J.E.D.I. leader isn’t just someone who believes in equity—they architect it. They don’t perform inclusion—they practice it. They don’t exploit diversity—they elevate it. They don’t tolerate justice—they fight for it.

They are builders. System-makers. Cultural stewards. They embed justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion into the very definitions of success—how it’s measured, how it’s rewarded, and who gets to participate in it.

• They don’t chase compliance. They build commitment.

• They don’t demand allegiance. They cultivate alignment.

• They don’t manage the margins. They unlock the full potential of every stakeholder—from intern to executive.

This is the mission of J.E.D.I. Restoration: to rebuild the broken bridge between who we say we are and how we actually show up for our employees, customers, communities, the environment, and shareholders.

When leadership becomes performative, organizations fracture. When leadership becomes principled, organizations flourish.

Why the Boss Mentality Fails

Let’s call it what it is: command-and-control leadership is a relic. A fossil from an era where fear was considered motivation, and obedience was mistaken for performance.

Picture this: A new manager steps into a team with enormous talent and untapped potential. Instead of listening, they dictate. Instead of observing, they react. Instead of empowering, they control. KPIs are met. But the team is depleted, disengaged, and halfway out the door.

This isn’t a personnel issue. This is a leadership breakdown.

Here’s the truth: Power doesn’t come from title. It comes from trust. And trust is earned through consistency, transparency, humility, and purpose.

The boss mentality fails because it creates short-term compliance at the cost of long-term capacity. It silences the very voices that would drive innovation. It conditions teams to play small, speak less, and seek permission instead of progress.

J.E.D.I. leaders flip the script:

• They turn rules into relationships.

• They turn authority into accountability.

• They turn teams into movements.

When leaders move from coercion to collaboration, from fear to freedom, they don’t just retain talent—they ignite it.

J.E.D.I. Restoration: The Four Pillars of Transformative Leadership

🧱 Principles: Know What You Stand For

Your principles are more than words—they’re your leadership spine.

They determine how you make decisions when no one is watching. They shape how you respond to pressure, conflict, and ambiguity. And most importantly, they teach your team what you truly value—by what you refuse to compromise.

A J.E.D.I. leader doesn’t just preach inclusion in the quarterly town hall. They embed it in hiring criteria, budget decisions, promotion pathways, and how meetings are facilitated.

Example: A CTO facing a critical developer shortage expanded their talent search beyond traditional pipelines—inviting bootcamp graduates, veterans, and caregivers reentering the workforce. The result? A high-functioning, mission-aligned team with lower attrition and higher collaboration.

Action: Identify your 3 core leadership values. Share them with your team. Ask them to hold you accountable to them. Let your people see the throughline from your beliefs to your behaviors.

🎯 Priorities: Focus with Fierce Intent

When everything is a priority, nothing is.

J.E.D.I. leaders resist the trap of reactive leadership. They understand that their focus is their influence. What they prioritize signals what they care about—and what the organization should care about, too.

Too many leaders sacrifice the long game of equity for the short game of efficiency. But J.E.D.I. leaders know that sustainable performance only happens when people feel safe, seen, and supported.

Example: A divisional VP refused to cut back on onboarding in the name of speed. Instead, they doubled down on immersion, peer coaching, and team storytelling. Six months later, retention jumped. So did performance.

Action: Pick one priority that exemplifies your values. Make it visible. Resource it fully. And most importantly, don’t let urgency rob it of oxygen.

🛠️ Processes: Build the Pathway for Inclusion

Values without systems are just slogans.

J.E.D.I. leaders translate their commitments into infrastructure. That means designing processes that make equity the norm, not the exception. Systems that remove barriers, not build them. Meetings where every voice counts.

Promotions based on performance and potential. Feedback that flows both ways.

Example: A nonprofit leader redesigned their grant review process by bringing in community advisors with lived experience to co-evaluate proposals. The results? More equitable funding, deeper trust, and higher program impact.

Action: Identify one core business process—hiring, evaluations, procurement—and examine where bias or exclusion might live. Redesign it for transparency, equity, and shared input.

🧍 Practices: Embody the Culture You Want to Create

Your leadership habits shape the team’s emotional climate.

Culture isn’t defined by what you post on LinkedIn—it’s defined by what you do every day. J.E.D.I. leaders model vulnerability, encourage dissent, and practice reflection—not because it’s trendy, but because it builds safety, trust, and creativity.

Example: A senior leader began each team meeting with a “moment of learning”—sharing a recent failure or a bias they became aware of. Over time, that openness cascaded through the team. Psychological safety soared. So did innovation and shared ownership.

Action: This week, demonstrate your values in real time. Apologize publicly.

Praise a dissenting voice. Invite feedback from the quietest person in the room.

Let your actions teach your culture.

Alignment: The Hidden Multiplier

When your principles, priorities, processes, and practices align—everything changes.

Your team knows what matters. They know what’s expected. They know how to win. And they know that winning doesn’t require assimilation—it invites authenticity.

This isn’t leadership theory. It’s the foundation of high-performance, high-trust, human-centered teams.

The J.E.D.I. Restoration System isn’t another checklist or framework. It’s a commitment. A blueprint. A path forward for leaders who want to do more than survive this moment—they want to elevate it.

🛡 Be the Leader This Moment Demands

Right now, DEI is being stripped of its power, recast as a risk instead of a requirement.

But in this climate of retreat, we need boldness.

• When others whisper neutrality, speak for justice.

• When others erase difference, celebrate it.

• When others seek compliance, build community.

This isn’t a soft skill. This is foundational leadership. The kind of leadership that not only moves metrics—but moves people.

🧠 Your Next Move: Activate Your J.E.D.I. Restoration System

Start where you are.

1. Identify a principle you refuse to compromise.

2. Align one key priority to that value.

3. Choose a process that needs a redesign.

4. Commit to one daily practice that proves you’re serious.

Because the world doesn’t need more performative leaders.

It needs principled architects of change.

And if you’re reading this—you’re being called.