51 Comments

Whoah! Next you're going to tell us that the studies that say cutting off the private bits of minors is okie dokie have been debunked. Oh, wait.

Expand full comment
Apr 11·edited Apr 11

The question that has never been answered is who paid for the Kinsey report? They don't do anything for free.

Expand full comment

I have often thought that even if the McKinsey studies were accurate, they got the causality backwards. Very profitable companies can afford to waste money on DEI stuff. If you are in a highly competitive, low margin industry, following the latest DEI fad is a quick way to bankruptcy court.

Expand full comment

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair.

Expand full comment
Apr 11·edited Apr 11

Whatever those Navy DIE bullet points say, it's easier leading a homogenous combat team that has shared experiences and deep bonds of trust. Men fight and die for the respect of their Squadies, not for God, Mother or some HR PPT brief

The old way was better: I only see Green, not black, brown, yellow or white

Expand full comment

High performing teams are first high in trust. This style of diversity purposely destroys trust.

Expand full comment

Color me cynical. The truth will not set you free from DEI bureaucracy.

Expand full comment

Having dealt with McKinsey on numerous occasions during my career, I can tell you my first hand experience with them revealed them to be duplicitous, lazy, and lacking in any knowledge of the subject about which they were hired to give advice. They start with a premise given to them by those who hired them. That is a foundational problem. They give you a flavor of the day “study” with all of the current jargon. They also use cut and paste and find and replace liberally. Sometimes, however, they screw up and a different company’s name shows up where your company’s name should be. The last time I was forced to deal with them, the VP I reported to and I sent them packing. They hadn’t even taken the time to find out what our basic function as a unit was.

Expand full comment

“If you don’t use Accenture or McKinsey, you’d be amazed at what you can get done.”

I'd throw Booz Allen and Deloitte in there as well. The entire consultancy industry is a carbuncle on the butt of productive humanity.

Expand full comment

If you can’t replicate a study it means the study was science fiction not science.

Sort of like the Soviet multi year plans which always exceeded expectations.

Expand full comment

The key is "reverse causality" of the previous studies. In other words, it's not that more diverse firms yield better results, it's that more successful firms have the extra capital to pursue the "bright, shiny object." As another example, look at the proliferation of DEI staffs and administrators vice faculty at universities over the last two decades. Why? Because they can. With the government taking over student loans and then further subsidizing colleges, there's no relationship between quality or size of staff and output/Return on Investment of the college/university.

Expand full comment

"Consultants get paid to justify the decisions of the people who hire them".

Expand full comment

Yes. If it doesn't pass the smell test, don't go after it. As I learned at NWC: Let me set the assumptions and I will produce an impeccable study proving anything you want.

Expand full comment

Oh my, that quote from Taavi Kotka is spot on.

Expand full comment

Remember the Marxists are persistent. The new word for ESG and DEI is “BRIDGE”.

DEI= Didn’t Earn It

Expand full comment

First glance at the image at the top of the post told the story. At least in WWII they did posters right...lantern jawed, blue eyed, blond hair, 2 meter tall Teutonic demi-gods in steel pots with fixed bayonets shouting "Gott mit uns" or Remember Pearl Harbor posters showing caricatures of Japanese soldiers menacing White Army nurses in the Philippines with bayonets...or some such incitement to righteous wartime genocide. Sorry, that image is not even 8th place in a poster contest. 11 androgyns with low testosterone & high melanin counts is not representative of our Navy or our country. (Yes, it goes all the way to 11.) Show the diversity of external dermal characteristics if you want but make it accurate. Which this ain't. Looks more like a gaggle of guys on the way to an Easter egg hunt or trans viz happenin'. Apologies to the Navy men in the picture. I am sure they were just following orders. I want them treated better. (PAO's....Huhn!)

Expand full comment