A year-and-a-half into an administration that has made its anti-DEI position clear, many leaders are still tempted to wait it out. But after a turbulent 2025 of executive orders, confusion, and fear, one thing has become evident: doing nothing is not a strategy. It’s a reactionary tactic — and it carries its own steep costs. The organizations struggling most today are those that pulled back hardest or hoped the issue would simply pass. They now face pushback from employees, shareholders, and communities all at once. In retail, this is particularly challenging because of the need to be hyper-customer focused, and your customers show their support or dissatisfaction with you through their wallets.

The path forward isn’t retreat. It’s a deliberate recalibration that weighs risk and reward across six dimensions.

  • Financial: A business that can’t keep its doors open helps no one, so solvency comes first. However, pulling back too hard leaves real value on the table. The innovation, broader risk perspective, and access to new markets that come from diverse teams drive revenue and margin. On the cost side, inclusion fuels retention, engagement, and productivity. Abandoning this work means absorbing losses on both fronts.
  • Legal: For organizations dependent on federal or state funding, following the executive orders to the letter is essential. That means no quotas in hiring, promotion, or programming, and ensuring employee resource groups (ERGs) are open to everyone, including allies. Partner closely with legal counsel to understand the trade-offs while remembering that counsel’s instinct toward maximum caution must be balanced against the business reality.
  • Regulatory: Companies in the midst of mergers or operating in heavily scrutinized industries like healthcare, telecom, entertainment, or energy, sit under a particular microscope. If regulatory approval is on your horizon, this is the moment to play it safe on anything the orders flag as problematic.
  • Employees: Demand for inclusion has returned to its 2020 peak. For Gen Z and millennial workers especially, belonging, fairness, and equitable treatment are table stakes. The job market is tight now, but when it loosens, employees who watched their employer retreat will remember. Start inside: equitable policies, unbiased promotions, and equal pay for equal work matter more than recruiting headlines.
  • Social: Reputational damage is real and hard to reverse. Customers and communities notice when a brand abandons commitments it once championed. If your investment was only ever performative, stepping back simply reveals that. If it was real, this is the moment to hold steady.
  • Shareholders: This year, anti-DEI proposals from activist investors have been voted down almost universally — often by margins of 98 to two or higher. That’s a clear signal of where shareholders want their support directed, and it deserves weight in how you prioritize.

You can absolutely adjust your language to emphasize inclusion, belonging, or engagement without abandoning the work. What you can’t afford is to kick the can down the road. The leaders who thrive during this period will be the ones who recalibrate thoughtfully, not those who stick their heads in the sand.

Michelle (Bogan) Feferman is the founder and CEO of Equity At Work™, known for creating innovative, customized workplace solutions that address today’s challenges around AI, bias, psychological safety, insularity, and constant change.