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As the Trump administration has set its sights on dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the workplace, the prevailing narrative has been that private-sector companies are retreating from DEI programs. That’s true to some extent: Major employers have made notable changes to their DEI efforts, altering language in public filings and slashing or pausing career development programs for underrepresented groupsand corporate leaders have said they are losing sleep over the threat of DEI-related litigation. Still, it seems that many companies are continuing to invest in diversity programs, according to a benchmarking survey that culture and inclusion platform Paradigm released today. On the whole, federal contractors and large companiesthose with more than 10,000 employeesappear to be the most likely to make significant changes to their DEI work in response to the heightened scrutiny by the Trump administration and risk of legal action. (The survey polled more than 400 employers of different sizes across a range of industries, including some of the largest U.S. companies by revenue.) What DEI policies are changing Its true that employers are moving away from certain types of DEI initiatives. Many companies are, in fact, eliminating representation goalssomething that leading tech employers like Meta and Google have already done. Paradigm found that 38% of companies surveyed had either stopped using representation goals or are planning to do so. The vast majority of employers who still use representation goals92%said they plan to stop sharing those goals publicly, while 77% said they would not even disclose them internally. As the terminology of DEI has grown more polarizing, 39% of companies have also changed the language they use for their programs. What DEI policies are staying the same Even as employers pull back on some of these efforts, however, the budget for DEI work has not radically shifted at many companies, per Paradigms findings: Only 19% of employers said they are decreasing funding for DEI efforts. More than half claimed they are not making any changes, and 23% said they actually plan to increase funding. Given that the pushback to DEI has been brewing since the Supreme Courts 2023 ruling on affirmative action, its possible some of these companies had already made changes to how they allocated funding for diversity effortsor cut back on them altogether. As Fast Company has previously reported, plenty of companies were already reevaluating their financial commitments even prior to that ruling, and in some cases trimmed headcount for teams that were dedicated to DEI-related work. Joelle Emerson, cofounder and CEO of Paradigm, also posits that some companies may have just reallocated funding or outsourced certain aspects of their DEI work to organizations like hers. Weve worked with Fortune 500 companies that have a team of five learning designers building trainings from scratch on inclusive leadership or inclusive hiring, she says. Weand Im sure other [platforms]have really great content that doesn’t need to be reinvented for every single organization. The state of external rankings Over the past year, many companies have made headlines for pulling out of the Human Rights Campaigns Corporate Equality Index, an annual survey that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees and is often touted by companies that are looking to attract more diverse employees. But the Paradigm report indicates that even amid public pressure, many companies have not changed their stance on those rankingsat least not yet. Only 18% of respondents said they had already paused their participation in external rankings that measure inclusion or planned to do so. Emerson points out that many of the companies who, for example, pulled out of the Corporate Equality Index, were being pressured to do so by right-wing activists. But the companies that seem to be staying the course may not be talking about it openly or getting media attention. If you’re a company that’s not evolving away from these things, there would be no reason anyone would hear about it, she says. By and large, youre not going to be announcing that. Reducing legal risk Nearly all the companies surveyed by Paradigmat least 90%say they have already embedded DEI practices into their talent strategy, which includes continuing to source diverse talent. Most of them are also continuing to collect demographic data on employees and invest in inclusion trainings. Employee resource groups and DEI-related benefits like parental leave and trans healthcare coverage have also remained largely unchanged (though some companies are opening affinity groups up to all employees to mitigate legal risk). Emerson adds that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions recent guidance on DEI has actually helped clarify what could constitute unlawful discrimination for some employers, which had sparked widespread confusion when Trump first introduced executive orders targeting DEI. I don’t agree with a lot of the guidanceI think a lot of the things that they’re saying are essentially illegal DEI are, in fact, not, she says. But the guidance has given the companies we work with more confidence to continue with the things they’re doing.
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The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. Disruption has become our new workplace reality. For managers, navigating change is an everyday responsibility, not an occasional responsibility. Gallup reports that 72% of employees recently experienced workplace disruptions, and nearly a third of leaders experienced extensive disruptions. Today, no disruption is as prevalent as the rise of artificial intelligence. Yes, as sophisticated as AI might become, the key to successfully leading your team through change does not lie in smarter tech, but rather in fostering the fundamental human skills that AI will never be capable of delivering. The human role Quiet the noise around AI and you will find the simple truth that the most crucial workplace capabilities remain deeply human. According to World Economic Forums Future of Jobs Report 2025, essential skills like resilience, agility, creativity, empathy, active listening, and curiosity are far more valuable than technical skills. Those skills listed may be commonly referred to as soft, but in the age of AI, they are not just feel-good assets reserved for your personality hires. The future of work hinges on how well your teams adapt, connect, and perform together as humans. Of course, none of this should be surprising. Good leaders understand the importance of human-centered skills. Yet, there remains a significant gap between what we value and what we actively build in our people. Deloittes 2025 Human Capital Trends Report says that 71% of managers and 76% of HR executives believe prioritizing human capabilities like emotional intelligence, resilience, and curiosity, is very or critically important. This human skills gap is even more urgent when Gen Z is factored in. They entered the workforce aligned with a shift to remote and hybrid environments, resulting in fewer opportunities to hone interpersonal skills through real-life interactions. This is not a critique of an entire generation, but rather an acknowledgment of a broad workplace challenge. And Gen Z is not alone in needing to strengthen communication across generational divides, but that is a topic for another day. Adding fuel to the fire are increased workloads, job insecurity, and economic stresses. When we combine these pressures with underdeveloped human skills, we see the predictable outcomes: disengagement, confusion, and last years buzzword, quiet quitting. If leaders are not proactively developing their teams human capabilities, they leave them unprepared to navigate exactly the changes they are expected to embrace. Find comfort in discomfort So what should leaders do? The answer is simple, but the practice is challenging. Leaders must embrace their inner improviser. Yes, improvisation, like what you have watched on Whose Line Is It Anyway? Or the awkward performance your college roommate invited you to in that obscure college lounge. The skills of an improviser are a proven method for striving amidst uncertainty. Decades of experience at Second City Works and studies published by The Behavioral Scientist confirm the principles of improv equip us to handle change with agility, empathy, and resilience. A study involving 55 improv classes, including several facilitated by The Second City, revealed a powerful truth. Participants who intentionally sought out discomfort developed sharper focus, took bolder creative risks, and reported greater confidence and improved communication skills. The lesson? Discomfort is not the problem. It is the pathway forward. Leaders must model this openly. Normalize statements like, This feels awkward, but well navigate it together. When your team sees discomfort as an opportunity to learn rather than a flaw to fear, they will follow your example. Encourage authentic curiosity Amid constant change, we crave clear answers. But sometimes rushing toward the first right answer closes the door to innovation and possibility. Instead, leaders should practice authentic curiosity. Ask your team, What else could be true? Welcome I dont know moments. Create psychological safety so new ideas can surface without judgment. Curiosity keeps your teams adaptable. And according to the World Economic Forum, it remains one of the most valuable capabilities leaders can nurture. Make listening the cultural norm We talk a lot about the importance of listening, but few teams actually practice it consistently. Make listening intentional and visible. Respond with the phrase, So what Im hearing is, followed by paraphrasing what you heard. Pose thoughtful questions that indicate your priority is understanding, not just replying. Consciously build pauses into conversations, especially during tense or critical discussions. When team members feel heard, they are more willing to collaborate, innovate, and commit to their teams. Listening is not simply polite. It is strategic and transformative. Disruptions will not slow down. Innovative technologies will continue to emerge. New directives will always appear. Priorities will shift rapidly. But leaders who want to guide teams who thrive, not just survive, must invest in their people first. An improvisors skills are worth cultivating. Because, the future of work does not need smarter tools, but it will demand more empowered, resilient humans, and the improvisational leader who inspired them. Tyler Dean Kempf is creative director of Second City Works.
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The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. More people will require surgery this year than ever before. And next year, that number will rise again. By 2030, more than 313 million surgical procedures will done annually. This is a demand the current healthcare system cant keep up with. The result will be longer wait times, more complications, and a system stretched far beyond its limits. For decades, surgical innovation has been defined by better tools, stronger materials, and finer instruments, including hardware designed to improve human hands. But true transformation doesnt come from refining scalpels and sutures; it comes from giving surgeons the right information at the right time, through the worlds most intelligent dataset. This is where AI is rewriting the playbook. Not by replacing human expertise, but by amplifying it and by turning intuition into insight, experience into data, and uncertainty into precision. The rise of intelligent surgery Even the most skilled surgeon is limited by human perception. AI is placing intelligence at the center of the operating room, creating a data-driven surgical environment that continuously adapts and enhances precision in real time. Technologies like light field imaging and advanced sensor suites are eliminating blind spots by creating real-time 3D reconstructions of the surgical field with unprecedented depth and clarity. AI guidance continuously adapts during a procedure, giving the surgeon a live surgical roadmap that helps them optimize their every move. AI isnt just showing better images. Its learning. It’s refining implant placement with sub-millimeter precision and continuously optimizing surgical workflows. The result? Reduced operating times, fewer complications, and a consistency level in patient outcomes once thought impossible. AI as the ultimate surgical partner Surgical expertise has always been a mix of experience, intuition, and technique, but even the most skilled hands rely on intraoperative estimations. AI can reduce that guesswork by integrating computational modeling of anatomical structures, shrinking uncertainty to improve surgical precision. AI is improving surgical decision making by giving surgeons clearer insights before and during procedures. It can help plan the best approach, decrease guesswork in the operating room, and lead to more consistent, predictable patient results. In one recent study (RF145), an AI tool was able to measure spinal alignment during surgery more accurately than surgeons. It provided real-time feedback before and after a correction, helping the surgical team see exactly how much alignment had changed and whether additional adjustments were needed. This kind of support can lead to safer surgeries and better patient outcomes. Improve patient safety and outcomes For patients, the success of AI isnt just in better, more informed surgeriesits also in better, more informed recoveries. Predictive analytics flag potential complications before they become problems, enabling proactive interventions and improved care. The numbers tell the story: A deep learning model predicted post-operative complications with 70% accuracy, surpassing traditional clinical risk models and enabling earlier interventions to improve patient safety. Similarly, predictive models have successfully forecasted 30-day hospital readmissions, strongly indicating whether a patient is likely to be readmitted or not. The techmed shift For decades, medtech has been defined by hardware: selling instruments, implants, and surgical devices as products. While these tools have advanced, the underlying approach has been transactional, focused on selling physical components rather than evolving surgical intelligence. Techmed is changing this paradigm. Instead of treating surgery as a series of isolated procedures, AI-driven platforms are creating data rivers, or continuous streams of surgical data that refine precision, optimize workflows, and improve decision making over time. Each procedure informs the next, driving exponential improvements in efficiency, safety, and patient outcomes. This mirrors the evolution of modern technology companies. Rather than one-time sales of surgical tools, techmed is building intelligent, learning-based systems that deliver ongoing value, just as cloud computing and AI-driven platforms have transformed other industries. By integrating data intelligence into surgery, techmed is creating a new foundation for precision, adaptability, and continuous improvement. AIs role in the future of surgery We are at an inflection point. AI is the catalyst reshaping whats possible in surgical care. It is ensuring that every patient, everywhere, benefits from the collective intelligence of thousands of surgeries before them. AI isnt replacing surgeons. Its making them unstoppable. The question isnt whether AI will transform surgery. It already has. The real challenge is whether we will fully harness its potential to ensure precision, efficiency, and better outcomes for all. The revolution isnt coming. Its already here. Gabriel Jones is cofounder and CEO of Proprio.
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E-Commerce
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