Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

There’s DEI in an academic sense, and there’s corporate applied DEI. Even by corporate standards Nike’s DEI initiatives have been horrid because ELT’s bonuses were tied to meeting certain racial percentages. Percentages that were FAR from being representative of the available hiring pool.

So what’s the end result? Positions being granted to certain races, even against the interviewer’s & hiring manager’s recommendations. HR has on multiple occasions forced through applicants because it would make metrics look good.

Some of you need to turn off Fox News and put your favorite ‘centrist’ bro podcaster down. DEI is one of the right’s latest boogeymen to scare white people into thinking they are losing something.

DEI /= unqualified people being hired simply because of their race, gender, s-xual orientation or identity. Employers can’t use collected data to give marginalized groups an advantage over other candidates. They can set targets for the amount of minority candidates who make it to various stages in the hiring process (ex: see Mansfield rule), but Nike is NOT practicing affirmative action and just flat out hiring minority candidates BECAUSE they are minorities.

Also, Nike has NEVER been a meritocracy. Mediocre white men have run this ship since day one and they will absolutely continue to do so.

If they did that, they would have to close ATC since no one would be working there.

Unpopular opinion: prioritizing growing the women’s business above all else is harming Nike.

@2opg+1vG6aEGC Well, I don't have to imagine I can see you're triggered by the mere mention of a "boys" club. Also, you miss the point and insert your own. LOL

"Please tell me WHAT Fortune 500 company promotes based on merit?"
Excellent question.
Please tell me who is the majority shareholder of each of those Fortune 500 companies.
Is it by any chance Blackrock, State Street, or Vanguard?

It's unrealistic to think that people hire folks based solely on whether they are the most qualified for a job. That is just not the case...so many biases come into play (team fit, personality fit,...yada yada yada). Most people are more comfortable with someone that they can relate to or feel the most comfortable with. It's not about "most qualified" and you guys know its true. The best diversity efforts are to expand the pool of "qualified" candidates so that more people have a shot. Nike did go too far with their targets, in my opinion, but lets be real, "most qualified" is never just that simple.

Please tell me WHAT Fortune 500 company promotes based on merit?

Imagine thinking that judging people based on their merit, rather than by their gender, s-xual orientation, or skin color, constitutes a "Good 'Ol Boy's club"

No poster, I think YOU are the problem, wanting to judge someone on anything OTHER than their merit.

BRINGS IT BACK?!? Good lord you’re part of the problem. Not all Nike employees are or strive to be a good ‘ol boy.

Nike did not have MEI. There are too many leaders who are in their position because they look and sound the part (white males). But last few years the pendulum was shifting towards hiring for DEI (specifically create quotas for hiring women in leadership positions). That is equally bad.

@gcu+1vG6aEGC I think youre missing the bigger picture of how Nike picks leaders. It’s never just about being the smartest person or even fitting a specific profile. What Nike has always valued in leaders is the ability to bring people together, align them around a shared goal, and actually inspire them and fire them up to go all-in. That’s what made Nike different, this culture of relentless competition, common love for sport, and focus on creating the next big thing for the athlete.

The focus on hitting DEI numbers or looking good in the press has overshadowed what really makes teams at Nike successful. It should never be about ticking boxes or checking off some KPI, it should always be about finding the right mix of people who believe in the mission and can work together to win. Diversity should make the team stronger, not become the only thing that matters.

At the end of the day, what sets Nike apart isn’t just hiring smart or diverse people, it’s about building leaders and teams where everyone is aligned, focused, and ready to take on any challenge which may be in the way of accomplishing our greater mission. That’s the culture that’s built Nike into the empire that it is. And that’s the culture that has faded over the last several years.

Setting up race and alphabet networks just created internal trade unions and alternative power structures that set people against each other. Self-appointed leaders of these groups lobbied for their group. This is why the alphabet mafia adds more letters, POC become BIPOC and so on. They want more power. Internecine strife results.
Best to stick to one-team sporting excellence mentality.

So how do we implemented “MEI”? Did we ever have MEI and how’d that go? Please lists years and departments.

We all knew it was true and why it was implemented.

NYT & Bloomberg Bury Rutgers Study Showing DEI Makes People Hostile

The new study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University found that people exposed to DEI talking points about race, religion and gender form integroup hostility and authoritarian attitudes towards others.

"What we did was we took a lot of these ideas that were found to still be very prominent in a lot of these DEI lectures and interventions and training," said NCRI Chief Science Officer Joel Finkelstein, a co-author of the study. "And we said, ‘Well, how is this going to affect people?’ What we found is that when people are exposed to this ideology, what happens is they become hostile without any indication that anything racist has happened."

If you actually think women, minorities, and anyone else from underrepresented communities get chances in the workplace OR life without having the skills required you are delusional. DEI and MEI are the same thing. MEI makes white men feel more comfortable b/c it makes them feel as though their success is a byproduct of their hardwork and skills not what is true like nepotism or who they know.

Honestly, Nike prefers handsome white guys who are athletic and charming enough to lead their frat, but not too smart to make anyone feel bad. The only under-qualified people I worked with in over 10 years at Nike ALL fit that profile. There not a problem with under qualified women and POC at Nike.

DEI is important… but many companies including Nike have taken it too far, focusing more on looking good than delivering real results. Someone else said it well in another thread on here, but rushing to “score political points” led to performative policies that didn’t actually help anyone and distracted from business goals. It became a checkbox exercise rather than an effort to bring about any real meaningful change.

Too much hoped is being pinned on EH.
Let's hope for the best but rot is too deep and wide.

This is like being stuck on the top floor of the building on fire and hoping I am found by the fireman before being dead !

Nike is already adapting MEI in its policies.

Those are the same things and it’s that you don’t see it that’s the problem