In February 2025, the U.S. Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter that signaled aggressive enforcement around race-conscious programs—sparking widespread fear, fast policy changes, and real disruption across higher education. In this episode, we break down what that guidance set in motion, how it impacted student support and campus trust, and what student-centered leadership looks like when institutions are under pressure.

We also discuss what happened next: federal judges blocked enforcement of key directives in April 2025, and later developments (including the government dropping its appeal) left the guidance effectively dead—but not before many campuses had already made changes and absorbed damage.

In this podcast swap episode of the Improve Work Podcast, host Daniela Tancau welcomes Sacha Thompson, founder of Equity Equation, to explore how team leaders can enhance their relationships with team members. The conversation delves into essential leadership skills, approaches to managing both their own emotions and those of their team, and the importance of trust in fostering a healthy workplace culture. Sacha shares her expertise in building inclusive environments and fostering psychological safety, offering listeners practical insights to improve their leadership effectiveness. Tune in for valuable strategies to elevate your team dynamics and create a more motivated, high-performing environment.

College access isn’t just about admissions decisions—it’s about the support systems that help students arrive, adjust, and stay. In this episode, Sacha Thompson reflects on her own path into higher education and the kind of program support that helped her succeed—especially for students who are first-generation or from underserved backgrounds.

She’s joined by Terrence Gresham, a talent advisor and consultant, to unpack what’s happening as colleges dismantle, rebrand, or scale back DEI-related programs—and what that means for recruitment, trust, and student success.

There is a lot of noise right now about the so-called “end” of DEI.

Some organizations are quietly backing away from their commitments. Others are changing the language but keeping some of the work. And many leaders are trying to figure out what they can still say, do, or stand for without becoming the next headline.

But underneath all of that is a bigger truth: the need for inclusive leadership has not gone away. If anything, this moment is making it even more necessary.

The backlash against DEI has exposed something many of us have known for a long time. In too many workplaces, inclusion was never fully built into the culture. It was added as a statement, a training, a campaign, or a temporary priority. It sounded good in public, but it was often missing from the day-to-day experience of employees.

That is where the real problem lives.

Because when people talk about backlash, what they are often reacting to is not just the language of DEI. They are reacting to years of shallow efforts, inconsistent follow-through, and leadership teams that wanted the appearance of progress without the discomfort of real change.

And people can tell the difference.

Employees know when an organization’s values are reflected in decisions, behaviors, and accountability. They also know when those values only show up on a website, in a statement, or during moments of public pressure. That gap between what an organization says and what people actually experience is where trust starts to erode.

This is why the future of inclusive leadership cannot be built on performance. It has to be built on practice.

Inclusive leadership is not about saying the right words. It is about creating the conditions where people can contribute, raise concerns, challenge ideas, and be seen as fully human without being punished for it. It is about how decisions get made, whose voices shape them, and what happens when harm occurs. It is about whether leaders are willing to listen when the feedback is inconvenient, and whether they are prepared to change something meaningful in response.

That kind of leadership requires more than intention. It requires courage.

It also requires sacrifice, which is the part many organizations still struggle with. Everybody wants inclusion until it costs something. Until it means sharing power. Until it requires rethinking long-standing norms. Until accountability has to apply to people at the top, not just everyone else.

That is why so much of what has been called inclusion has felt like an illusion.

You cannot market your way into trust. You cannot statement your way into credibility. And you cannot ask people to believe in belonging while they are still navigating exclusion, silence, or retaliation behind the scenes.

This moment is asking leaders a harder question than “Do you support DEI?”

It is asking: What kind of workplace are you actually building?

Because even if the terminology changes, employees are still looking for the same things. They want trust. They want fairness. They want compassion. They want stability. They want to know that their voice matters and that leadership can be counted on to act with integrity. Those needs do not disappear because a company changes its language. They become even more important when people feel uncertainty in the culture.

That is where inclusive leadership has an opportunity to mature.

The future of this work belongs to leaders who understand that inclusion is not a side initiative. It is a leadership practice tied directly to culture, trust, retention, innovation, and risk. It shows up in how meetings are run, how feedback is handled, how conflict is addressed, how opportunities are distributed, and how leaders respond when someone says, “Something here does not feel right.”

It also belongs to organizations that are willing to move beyond optics and into honest examination.

That means looking at where the friction points really are. Where are people experiencing the biggest disconnect between the organization’s values and their everyday reality? Where do employees feel unsupported, unheard, or left out of key decisions? Where are certain groups carrying a heavier burden to navigate the culture, while others are insulated from it?

These are not abstract questions. They are culture questions. Leadership questions. Business questions.

And they are exactly the kinds of questions organizations should be asking if they want to build workplaces that can withstand pressure, change, and uncertainty.

The backlash against DEI may have changed the conversation, but it has not changed the underlying need. People still want workplaces where they can do their best work without navigating unnecessary harm. They still want leaders who know how to build trust, repair it when it breaks, and create environments where people feel respected and supported.

That is why inclusive leadership still matters.

Not because it is trendy. Not because it sounds good. But because organizations cannot build durable cultures without it.

The leaders who will move forward well in this moment are not the ones trying to win a debate about terminology. They are the ones doing the deeper work of aligning values with behavior, commitments with systems, and leadership with accountability.

That is the future.

And in many ways, it is also the test.

Because the real question has never been whether organizations know how to talk about inclusion.

It is whether they are willing to lead in a way that people can actually feel.

When people hear the word resistance, they often picture protests, marches, signs, and public acts of defiance.

And yes, those things matter.

But that is not the only way resistance shows up.

That is one of the biggest takeaways from this part of the conversation with Dr. Janice Gassam Asare. Too often, people count themselves out because they assume resistance only “counts” if it is public, bold, or visible. They think if they are not on the front lines, they are not doing enough.

That kind of thinking leaves too many people disconnected from their own power.

The truth is, resistance can look like a lot of things. It can be loud, but it can also be quiet. It can be public, but it can also happen behind the scenes. It can happen in the streets, but it can also happen in your workplace, in your community, in your choices, and in the way you use whatever access, privilege, or resources you have.

That matters, especially now.

Because in moments like this, people need more than one narrow definition of action. They need room to show up in ways that are sustainable, honest, and grounded in what is actually possible for them.

Resistance is bigger than protest

Protest is one form of resistance. It is not the only form.

Some people cannot safely protest. Some do not have the physical ability. Some are caregiving, working multiple jobs, protecting their immigration status, navigating chronic illness, or trying to survive in workplaces where the consequences of speaking too loudly are very real.

That does not mean they are uninvolved. It does not mean they do not care. And it definitely does not mean they have nothing to contribute.

One of the most important things we can do is expand how we think about resistance.

Resistance can look like writing. It can look like cooking. It can look like opening your business to support people who are doing hard work in the community. It can look like making calls, giving rides, sharing information, offering resources, funding efforts, checking in on people, or creating safe spaces for others to regroup and keep going.

Sometimes resistance is less about visibility and more about usefulness.

And honestly, we need both.

Allyship means using what you have

This is where allyship and privilege come into the conversation in a real way.

A lot of people think allyship begins and ends with agreement. But agreement is not the same thing as action.

Allyship shows up in what you do with what you have.

That might be your voice.That might be your network.That might be your money.That might be your role in an organization.That might be your access to rooms, relationships, information, or decision-makers that other people do not have.

Privilege is not just something to acknowledge. It is something to leverage responsibly.

If you have the ability to make something easier, safer, or more possible for someone else, that matters. If you can create cover, open a door, share a resource, or challenge a harmful pattern without taking the same level of risk someone else would take, that matters too.

That is part of resistance.

Not performative support. Not vague solidarity. Actual action.

Workplace resistance is still resistance

This part feels especially important because so many people are trying to figure out what action looks like when they are inside organizations that feel risky, punishing, or politically tense.

And the answer is: workplace action still counts.

In fact, for many people, the workplace is one of the main places where resistance has to happen.

That might look like documenting harm instead of letting it get smoothed over.It might look like refusing to participate in something you know is harmful.It might look like asking better questions in meetings.It might look like protecting a colleague from being isolated.It might look like mentoring someone, amplifying someone’s contribution, or speaking up when a decision is about to create harm.

It may not get called activism.But let’s be honest — that does not make it any less important.

A lot of workplace resistance happens in small moments. In the pause before you let something slide. In the decision to say, “No, that’s not okay.” In the choice to use your role, your credibility, or your access to interrupt harm instead of silently benefiting from it.

That matters more than people think.

Sometimes resistance looks like leaving

This is the part people do not always want to talk about.

Sometimes the act of resistance is not staying and fighting from the inside.

Sometimes it is leaving.

Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is remove yourself from a place that is harming you, diminishing you, or asking you to betray yourself just to survive. Strategic exits are real. And for some people, leaving is not giving up. It is choosing not to keep paying for someone else’s dysfunction with your health, peace, or sense of self.

Now, of course, leaving is not always simple.

The ability to walk away is shaped by money, caregiving, immigration status, healthcare, and all the other realities that make “just leave” a deeply incomplete answer for many people.

But even then, resistance can still show up in how someone prepares. In how they document what is happening. In how they build their next step. In how they use the time they have left to gather what they need, protect themselves, and move with intention.

Sometimes resistance is about changing the environment.Sometimes it is about refusing to let the environment keep changing you.

Rest is not quitting

We also need to talk about rest.

Because too many people have been taught that if they are not constantly producing, reacting, showing up, speaking out, and carrying the weight of what is happening, they are somehow falling short.

That is a lie.

Rest is not disengagement.Rest is not apathy.Rest is not weakness.

Rest can be a form of resistance, especially in a culture that treats exhaustion like proof of commitment and burnout like a badge of honor. Choosing to rest in a world that expects constant output is not small. It is a refusal. It is a refusal to let harmful systems consume all of you.

And frankly, many people need permission to hear that.

You do not have to run yourself into the ground to prove you care.You do not have to be publicly struggling for your contribution to count.You do not have to always be on in order to still be part of the work.

Rest helps people stay clear.Rest helps people stay well.Rest helps people stay in the fight longer.

That is not separate from resistance. That is part of it.

Small acts are not small when they build momentum

One of the things I appreciate most about this conversation is the reminder that not every act of resistance has to be dramatic to matter.

Some of the most meaningful actions are the ones that would never make a headline.

A conversation.A correction.A favor.A redirect.A ride.A meal.A check-in.A resource shared at the right time.A moment of cover.A decision to say something when silence would be easier.

These things can look small in isolation. But when enough people do them, they build something bigger than any one act.

That is how momentum grows.

And that matters because many people are overwhelmed right now. They are watching what is happening around them and wondering what their role is. They are looking at the scale of the problem and assuming anything they do will be too minor to count.

But that is not how change works.

Change is often built through accumulation. Through consistency. Through people doing what they can, where they can, with what they have.

That does not make the work less important.It makes it more accessible.And that is exactly the point.

You do not have to do everything, but you do need to do something

That may be the clearest invitation in all of this.

You do not have to protest if protesting is not possible for you.You do not have to choose the most visible form of action for your contribution to matter.You do not have to perform resistance in a way that makes other people comfortable or impressed.

But you do need to decide what your role is.

What can you offer?What can you interrupt?What can you support?What can you refuse?What can you share?What can you risk?What can you protect?

Resistance is not one-size-fits-all. But it does ask something of us.

And in this moment, that may look like allyship with action.It may look like using privilege with intention.It may look like workplace choices that protect people instead of preserving harm.It may look like rest.It may look like leaving.It may look like one small act that helps someone else keep going.

All of that counts.

Final thoughts

We need a wider understanding of resistance.

Not because protest no longer matters, but because people need to know there are more ways to show up than the ones they have been taught to recognize.

Resistance can be public.Resistance can be quiet.Resistance can be strategic.Resistance can be collective.Resistance can be deeply personal.

And sometimes, the people doing the most meaningful work are not the ones with the microphone. They are the ones using what they have, where they are, in ways that help move other people closer to safety, dignity, and justice.

That is resistance too.

And we would do well to stop overlooking it.

If you’re trying to push for workplace equity in a climate of backlash, this episode is for you. Sacha Thompson is joined by Dr. Janice Gassam Asare—organizational psychologist and author of Rise and Resist—to talk about what resistance looks like now, including the quieter, behind-the-scenes moves that actually shift systems.

Dr. Janice connects today’s workplace dynamics to the long legacy of Black resistance—and shares how we can challenge the status quo, navigate organizational pushback, and keep doing meaningful work even when public-facing DEI efforts are being questioned or rolled back.

This is Part 2 of: “The Art of War for Inclusion: How to Beat Performative DEI at Work.” In this episode, we get practical about what it takes to move from public statements to real organizational change—especially in a climate where inclusion work is being scrutinized, politicized, or quietly rolled back.

We reflect on the post–George Floyd corporate response cycle, the pushback from Black employees asking for genuine action (not optics), and what “accountability” actually looks like inside organizations. We also discuss how schools and institutions have responded to pressure around DEI programming, and how leaders can think through culture-building efforts while being mindful of risk.

A checkbox approach to inclusion creates shallow progress—and people feel it. In this episode, Sacha Thompson talks with Rolando Talbot about what it takes to build workplaces where inclusion is treated like a business function, not a side initiative.

We dig into inclusion as “business DNA,” why it matters for performance and culture, and how teams can create environments where neurodiverse employees (and everyone else) can thrive—without performative efforts that fade when things get hard.

This is Part 2 of last week’s episode: “The 7 Trust Languages: A practical way to rebuild respect, safety, and credibility.” Here, we take the framework into real life—what trust looks like when people are watching whether your actions match your values.

When organizations say “we value inclusion” but people experience something different day to day, trust breaks—fast. In this continuation episode, we unpack the gap between words and actions, why it damages credibility in workplaces and communities, and what it takes to rebuild trust through consistent behavior.

We also share a powerful moment from a community town hall: a resident naming the disconnect between a police department’s mission to “protect and serve” and the lived reality of their actions. It’s a clear example of what happens when values are stated, but not embodied—and why the loss of trust is rational.

In this episode of DEI After 5, I’m joined by Minda Harts to talk about what trust really looks like at work—and how to rebuild it when it’s been strained. We unpack her 7 Trust Languages framework and the everyday behaviors that shape credibility, psychological safety, and team culture. If you’re leading through change or trying to strengthen relationships on your team, this conversation will give you clear language and practical ways to move forward.