DEI at Davos: What CEOs are saying

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has been a hot topic of discussion among politicians and business leaders at this year’s World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. It comes as Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at dismantling the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. But most corporate leaders who spoke to CNBC across the first four days of the summit reiterated that while internal policies may be tweaked, their company values will remain the same. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase chief executive, commented: “We are going to continue to reach out to the Black community and Hispanic community, LGBT community, and the veteran community… Wherever I go — red states, blue states — mayors, governors say they like what we do.” Meanwhile, Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO, commented: “I think what happened is there’s a subset of initiatives under the DEI brand that were particularly disliked. And I think the whole thing got blown up because of that.” And Robert Smith, Vista Equity Partners CEO, stated: “I think that diversity is a great thing in business… When we have diverse teams, our teams are more productive.