2025 was a defining year for those of us engaged, both directly and indirectly, in DEI* work. It tested the resolve, adaptability, and integrity of both the work itself and those committed to advancing it.
I spent much of the year reflecting on how this period may be understood over time. My hope is that those in DEI* work and its adjacent fields will be recognized for the clarity, creativity, and steadfastness we showed during multiple and persistent challenges.
While many anticipated increased scrutiny of the work, the speed and intensity of the response caught some by surprise. That pause was brief. Across the country, practitioners adjusted quickly. Some spoke publicly. Others navigated constraints more quietly. Regrettably, many experienced professional loss as institutions stepped back from commitments at the earliest opportunity.
At the start of the year, Tangible Development remained steady, supporting clients as they absorbed the impact of early executive actions and broader uncertainty affecting DEI* efforts. We focused on helping leaders create space to think clearly and make decisions grounded in both values and risk awareness. This balance has always been central to the work. In 2025, it became more visible and more urgent.
Even after the year the field experienced, the year our team experienced, and the year I personally experienced, I reflect on 2025 with gratitude and respect for those who continued the work with intention and care. I enter 2026 with renewed confidence in what is possible.
2025 reaffirmed several important truths:
Commitment through Creativity
Those deeply committed to the work found ways to continue. Many organizations reaffirmed their direction and identified thoughtful, creative approaches to stay aligned with their goals, even amid uncertainty and risk.
Leaders’ Clarity of Purpose
The leaders and institutions still engaged in this work today are doing so with clarity of purpose. The period of symbolic or performative engagement has largely passed. What remains is a cohort committed to meaningful change, even when that commitment carries greater risk and responsibility.
Connection and Collaboration
Collaboration increased rather than diminished. Some organizations adjusted language. Others retained it. Many navigated a middle ground (see Note on Language below). These approaches were not binary. What mattered most was the preservation of core outcomes and the continuation of work aligned with inclusion, access, and organizational health.
New Champions Emerged
Public discourse around DEI* intensified rather than receded. Efforts to undermine the work prompted broader engagement, drawing in leaders and individuals who had previously remained at a distance but who recognized the implications for their communities, schools, workplaces, and institutions. Many leaders stepped into unfamiliar and challenging roles, some for the first time. Attempts to discredit the work activated a deeper sense of responsibility and resolve. New champions emerged not through formal training, but through lived recognition of what was at stake.
Moments of Loss in a Movement of Gains
And there was a real professional loss this year. Our team experienced periods of uncertainty as organizations paused to assess direction and risk. The impact of the collective pause can’t be minimized or glossed over. It is part of the record of this moment in the larger legacy of the movement, as well as part of the story of Tangible Development.
Looking ahead to 2026, I see clear signals of readiness and action.
- Leaders are returning with greater clarity and resolve. There is increased understanding of the consequences of undermining and withdrawing from the work.
- There is a broader recognition of the role this DEI* work plays in collaboration, trust, and organizational resilience.
My initial response to the first executive actions in January 2025 was simple and instinctive: Persist.
That principle guided our work throughout the year. And it will continue to guide us forward.
In 2026, we will persist, persist, persist.
*A Note on Language: As a private consulting firm we are not under the same scrutiny as those in the public sector. For that reason and many others, we have maintained the acronym DEI despite “DEI” being just one piece of the larger organizational change work we do. While we have retained the DEI-forward language to describe ourselves, we have worked creatively with clients and others to pivot language to try and respond to the external shifts impacting their outcomes based efforts to build healthy and values-based organizations. Language is subjective and every-changing, and 2025 showed us that no words are “safe.” Regardless of the language used, the outcomes of the work is what matters.