A Few Good Men Is Not Enough

Diversity Breeds Strength

This week, we witnessed a political earthquake. Suddenly the assumed candidate of a major party is a Gen X Black woman. She happens to display many of the female leadership qualities I have been writing about for the last 35 years. But make no mistake, she will be savaged by warrantless remarks about DEI. 

It's a big moment. To honor it, I want to repost a newsletter from the start of this year that seems to fit the moment. I also recommend, for further reading, Lydia Polgreen’s July 21 NYT article, which calls out the fallacy at the heart of this vicious line of attack.

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The assault on DEI in corporations and universities this winter was preceded by a lot of chain rattling about the alleged prevalence of “wokeness” in the military.  Just last week, a US Congressman claimed that DEI initiatives were depressing what he called “white recruitment.” By contrast, Dr. Peter Feaver, an expert in the field of recruitment, cites a strong economy providing well-paying jobs and a decrease in the number of those fit to serve– due in large part to obesity and drug use– as the primary reasons that the service branches missed their collective recruitment goal by 41,000 in 2023.

The absurdity of the military-is-woke posturing was brought home to me last week by comments that best-selling author and West Point graduate Lucian Truscott IV left on my last newsletter. 

I was writing about why I believe that companies will not shy away from their commitment to DEI simply because of political pushback— because the politicians and activists stirring the pot, unlike organizations, can operate with only a handful of hires. As a result, they can afford to pretend that efforts to broaden the hiring pool are the result of political correctness. This serves their own purposes, of course, namely posturing for attention.

Lucian reminded me that what applies to organizations applies above all to the military, writing: “Let's see them try to end DEI for military recruiting. We wouldn't even have a military within about five years.”

When I called Lucian to discuss this, he noted that “Even the Supreme Court, in its recent decisions barring race as a consideration in college admissions, exempted service academies because their need is so great. The court isn’t sympathetic to diversity but they understand that the military would cease to function without women, people of color, and gays.”

Although diversity in both the military and in private and public sector organizations has increased in recent years, the benefits of expanding it have long been apparent. This was famously recognized by Lucian’s grandfather, the illustrious General Lucian Truscott Jr., during World War II.

As a regimental and later division commander, Truscott Jr prepared the Allied invasion of Sicily. He then led troops up through Italy, France, and ultimately into Germany, first as Corps commander and then as head of the Fifth Army. His leadership proved transformative precisely because of his emphasis on inclusion, on training all those who served.

This bottom-up approach made him keenly aware of the degree to which segregation limited the effectiveness of both the US military and its allies. So he devised a plan to integrate the 92^nd Infantry Division by bringing Black soldiers, who then comprised nearly 11% of forces, into the fight.

Lucian says, “Black soldiers were serving at the time, but they were not permitted to carry guns. So they were limited to support functions, such as driving trucks or repairing equipment. My grandfather knew this diminished troop strength, so he set up training camps all over Italy to train Black soldiers in firearms skills. This went against Bradley and Eisenhower’s wishes, but was done with their knowledge.” 

The success of Truscott’s experiment is widely viewed as spurring the 1948 executive order that finally abolished segregation within the Armed forces. 

Like corporate, university, and association leaders today, General Truscott understood the importance of making use of all available talent. Also like them, he did so in the service of achieving a specific objective. In his case, doing everything possible to help the Allies decisively win the war.

Those who decry diversity efforts as “political correctness run amok” always seem to miss this important point. Fully engaging and deploying talent is not an exercise in ticking boxes, proving authenticity, or scoring political points. It’s done in the pursuit of a real-world objective. It’s done to create value.