1/ I, along with many other DEI practitioners, are always asked to provide "practical, actionable strategies" to advance DEI.

So let's use a few examples to get to the bottom of this, because I'm not actually convinced ya'll are looking for practical action items.

Thread.

You've been told introducing yourself with your pronouns is a way to disrupt the gender binary/transphobic culture, and yet you feel awkward and uncomfortable actually doing it so you don't ever actually do it when you meet someone new.

You've been told devaluing imperfect grammar is rooted in white supremacy beliefs, and yet "attention to detail is important" so you continue to reject candidates based on a misspelling.

You've been told about accessibility best practices, and yet making your product more accessible never makes it into your prod roadmap because it doesn't feel as "urgent." You also never ever use alt-text for any of your marketing images.

You've been told you need to diversify your recruiting pipeline, and yet you keep advancing referral candidates even before the pipeline has been built. You continue to value previous tech experiences over the life experiences of those who haven't had the same opportunity.

You've been told to listen to people who have been harmed: People experiencing microaggressions, sexual harassment, racism, etc. etc. and yet your HR dept continues to weaponize the "legal definition of compliance" (aka the bare minimum) to gaslight and diminish the harm done.

tldr: You ask for "practical strategies" but when you get them, you have a million justifications for why they're not practical enough to implement.

Allyship is a CHOICE and it is a VERB.
You have to CHOOSE to actually DO IT.