\n<\/p>\n
Elon Musk<\/strong> has never been a fan of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We know that because last month, he took to X\u2014seemingly out of nowhere, but one never knows\u2014to write<\/a>, \u201cDEI must DIE,\u201d and on Wednesday\u2014in response to a 4,000-word post<\/a> by fellow billionaire Bill Ackman<\/strong> on the matter, and how it relates to former Harvard president Claudine Gay<\/strong>\u2014he declared<\/a>, \u201cDEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it.\u201d So, do we think a primer from another billionaire, Mark Cuban,<\/strong> on DEI and why it\u2019s good for the workplace will change the guy\u2019s mind? Probably not, but Cuban has taken a shot!<\/p>\n Responding to Musk\u2019s claim, Cuban wrote<\/a>: \u201cGood businesses look where others don\u2019t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed. You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various races, ethnicities, orientation, etc that are regularly excluded from hiring consideration. By extending our hiring search to include them, we can find people that are more qualified. The loss of DEI-Phobic companies is my gain.\u201d (Ackman, who waged<\/a> a war against the former Harvard president, comes down on the Musk side of the argument, writing in his original post that diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are \u201cracist,\u201d that he\u2019s worried about \u201creverse racism\u201d and \u201cracism against white people,\u201d and that DEI is \u201ca powerful movement that has not only pervaded Harvard, but the educational system at large\u201d and must be stopped.)<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s Tesla highlighted its DEI efforts in its 2022 Impact Report<\/a>, saying, \u201cWe are proud to be a majority-minority company with a large representation of employees from communities that have long struggled to break through the historic roadblocks to equal opportunity in the US.\u201d And as Bloomberg<\/a> noted last month, Tesla has \u201cheld hiring events targeting women and students of historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions, as well as several internal events to celebrate employee diversity. It also has several employee resource groups, and the company in 2022 launched a nationwide internal DEI newsletter.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Tesla, with the federal agency accusing<\/a> the company of \u201cengaging and continuing to engage in discrimination against Black employees at the Fremont factory by subjecting them to severe or pervasive racial harassment and by creating a hostile work environment because of their race.\u201d In response to a similar lawsuit from California\u2019s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the company said is \u201cstrongly opposes\u201d all discrimination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n