I'm a white middle aged male. The whole DEI craze didn't exactly help my career advancement a few notable times - not only at Accenture, but to be honest and attempting to be impartial, I wonder if this is not one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations for Accenture. When DEI was at peak, they would've faced risks of being perceived as not enough, now, that it's fallen out of favour, they are being put on the spot for having followed it too much.
Accenture don't exist in a vacuum, they exist in a society with changing politics. If anything, I do wish they stuck to unwavering meritocracy. That's going to save the day in normal times, but even more so during crises. Interfering with meritocracy is ultimately punished harsh by the history, the punishment may be delayed but not avoided Take it from a guy who witnessed the fall of the Eastern block behind the Iron Curtain and is now watching the remake of it in full HD and Dolby Surround, in the West nowadays.