Merck, Amex execs warn against corporate retreat from DEI

Former Merck CEO Ken Frazier and former American Express CEO Ken Chenault have warned companies pulling back from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that they could limit opportunities for those who face systemic disadvantages.

Frazier and Chenault, who co-founded OneTen, an organisation aimed at creating one million career opportunities for individuals without four-year college degrees, told CNN in an interview that DEI efforts are vital for cultivating talent in a diverse society.

According to the business leaders, without these programmes, many talented individuals may miss out on leadership opportunities because of factors beyond their control, such as race or socio-economic background.

"At its best, DEI is about developing talent, measuring it in a fair way and finding hidden talent and disadvantaged talent in a world where not everybody has an equal chance to exhibit their abilities," Frazier said in the CNN interview.

Frazier, reflecting on his own career at Merck, attributed his rise within the company to the mentorship of Roy Vagelos, Merck's CEO at the time.

"The reality of the world was if [Vagelos] had used the normal promotional standards of the company — which, by the way, many people conflated with merit because that's the way they always did it. That wasn't merit. It was just the way Merck always did it — then I would not have had a chance," Frazier told CNN.

Chenault, who became just the third Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history when he led American Express, also argued that past notions of "merit" were often biased and excluded many capable individuals based on their race or connections.

"This concept that, 50 years ago, merit reigned — the definition of what merit was not balanced," he said.

Withdrawal from DEI initiatives

Their remarks came as executives have also been throwing their support behind a new hiring principle called MEI, which stands for merit, excellence, and intelligence.

MEI, as defined by Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, means hiring "only the best person for the job."

"We treat everyone as an individual. We do not unfairly stereotype, tokenise, or otherwise treat anyone as a member of a demographic group rather than as an individual," Wang previously said.

MEI seems to be the countermove of various leaders to oppose DEI initiatives, which have gained prominence over the past few years following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

There are also organisations, such as Toyota, Harley-Davidson, and Tractor Supply, that are pulling back on their DEI initiatives after being targeted by right-wing groups online.

Frazier commented that some companies which joined the "sine waves" in 2020 regarding DEI initiatives are the ones that are "struggling to stay with it."

"For those companies that had integrated DEI into the way they do business, fundamentally, it's marbled into the meat, so to speak," he said. "They're not trying to change that."