FAQs

General

When did CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ initiative launch?

The initiative launched on June 12th, 2017.

What is the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™?

CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace. A unique coalition of more than 2,400 CEOs have signed on to this commitment, agreeing to take action to cultivate environments where diverse experiences and perspectives are welcomed and where employees feel comfortable and encouraged to discuss diversity and inclusion. All CEO signatories serve as leaders of their organizations and have committed to implementing the pledge within their workplaces, or where companies have already implemented one or several of the commitments, will support other companies in doing the same.

How can my organization sign on to become a CEO Action signatory?

Click here to learn more about the CEO Pledge, review guidelines for becoming a signatory and download and submit the required documents for review.

Do signatories have to agree to execute against all CEO pledge commitments?

Yes. As part of signing on to CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, CEOs are committing to taking action to implement all of the elements within the pledge.

Who created the commitment?

CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ was collectively formed by CEOs and leaders from Accenture, BCG, Deloitte US, The Executive Leadership Council, EY, General Atlantic, KPMG, New York Life, P&G and PwC. Today, the coalition is led by PwC US Chairman and Senior Partner Tim Ryan.

What are the CEO Action CEO pledge commitments?
  • First, each of the signatories are focused on cultivating workplaces that support open dialogue on complex, and sometimes difficult, conversations about diversity and inclusion.

  • Second, we believe that there is a gap around sharing and collaborating across enterprises in order to advance this issue within the business community. Some are making strides while others aren’t, and there are valuable lessons to be shared and learned in both of those experiences. To facilitate the exchange of actions, we built a hub that enables companies to share best known actions across different areas of diversity.

  • Third, each signatory has agreed to implement unconscious bias education in their respective organization, and those who have already done so are committing to mentor others so they can effectively implement this education.

  • And finally, signatories will create and share strategic inclusion and diversity plans with their board of directors, or equivalent governing bodies.
How is the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ different?

CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ assembles the largest collection of business leaders from various industries openly committing to sharing successful diversity and inclusion initiatives as well as lessons learned. The coalition was founded on a shared belief that diversity, equity and inclusion is a societal issue, not a competitive one, and that collaboration and bold action from the business community - especially CEOs - is vital to driving change at scale.

Is this commitment aimed at benefiting one group?

No. CEO Action is committed to advancing inclusion for all employees and making them feel supported in the workplace, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability status, veteran status, or other aspect of diversity. We recognize that diversity, equity and inclusion are multifaceted issues and that we need to tackle these subjects holistically to better engage and support all of our employees, our communities and our stakeholders.

Are there financial contributions as part of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™?

As part of this commitment, signatories have agreed to dedicate their time and resources to advance diversity and inclusion efforts both within their companies and as a part of this coalition to benefit society as a whole. Additionally, there is no financial commitment or obligation associated with being a signatory.

Actions

You say this commitment is all about action – what specific action(s) are signatories taking?

CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ signatories are committed to advancing four key commitments and are at various stages in execution and implementation. Additionally, throughout the year CEO Action signatories share actions in the portal around insights and lessons learned from their organization’s initiatives and programs. 

  • First, each of the signatories are focused on cultivating workplaces that support open dialogue on complex, and sometimes difficult, conversations about diversity and inclusion.

  • Second, we believe that there is a gap in the market around sharing and collaborating across enterprises in order to advance change within the business community. Some are making strides while others aren’t, and there are valuable lessons to be shared and learned in both of those experiences. To facilitate the exchange of actions, we built a hub that enables companies to share best known actions across different areas of diversity.

  • Third, each signatory has agreed to implement unconscious bias education in their respective organization, and those who have already done so are committing to mentor others so they can effectively implement this education.

  • Lastly, signatories are creating and sharing strategic inclusion and diversity plans with their board of directors, or equivalent governing bodies. Given their responsibility for driving strategies that help companies thrive, boards play an important role, alongside CEOs, in driving action to cultivate strong, inclusive cultures and the ability to attract and develop talent. We also believe that a strategic D&I plan will help accelerate the other CEO Action commitments.
What if a company is already implementing all the pledge commitments? What is their role?

We recognize that companies are at different stages in executing or implementing their DEI strategy . Companies that need support implementing some or all of the elements of the pledge can leverage CEO Action’s resources, programs and networking opportunities to learn effective and meaningful ways to help drive change within their organization. Companies that are already implementing some or all of the actions can use this as an opportunity to drive greater engagement within their own programs, contribute best known actions, share insights and mentor others.

How is each company going about making its workplace safe to have difficult conversations about topics such as race?

Rather than prescribe the creation of specific tools, each company is asked to foster environments, platforms, or forums with their people and organizations in mind. Our Signatory Led Communities (SLC) and Peer Led Conversations (PLC), support signatories in connecting and collaborating across the coalition to problem solve and discover new ways to implement leading DEI practices. Through our Signatory Portal, accessible within CEOAction.com, companies can also share best known actions on how they are doing this and can access many resources to advance their strategies.

When and how does each company share best known—and unsuccessful—actions?

Signatories can share one or many actions via our Signatory Portal on CEOAction.com. These actions are meant to help other signatories grow and advance their DEI strategies by learning from others.  Actions can be edited or added at any time and signatory organizations can request to connect with each other one-on-one around specific actions. Additionally, actions shared can and should also highlight unsuccessful initiatives or programs, including what was the lesson learned and how did the organization overcome the challenge or pivot.

How do you make unconscious bias education available to everyone?

Collectively, the organizations who are part of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ manage millions of employees, and have seen the benefits of effective educational programs. CEO Action provides a number of unconscious bias resources available to signatories (and some to the public as well) that range from assessment, audio learning, conversation guides, conversation starters, Delegate conversations, podcasts, resource guides, self-guided video learning and workshops.

Why is implementing and expanding unconscious bias education a main focus of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™?

Experts tell us that we all have unconscious biases that manifest themselves in various aspects of our daily lives. Unconscious bias education is a way for individuals to begin recognizing, acknowledging, and deconstructing any potential blind spots they may have or may not have been aware of previously. By giving employees at all levels access to these insights, we aim to facilitate more open and honest conversations that support inclusion throughout our organizations. As leaders of corporations, nonprofits and academic organizations, we recognize that such education is an important necessary step, because unconscious bias, by its very nature, is hidden. But we also recognize that such education, while necessary, is not a sufficient step to create change. That requires constant vigilance and proactive efforts to create equal opportunity and access.

While CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ signatories represent a collective footprint across all 50 states, are there regions or geographic clusters with significant concentration of signatories?

CEO Action signatories are truly spread across the country with some concentrations around major cities. Organizations range from small startups to Fortune 500s and cover many industries including non-profits and universities as well.

What does success look like and how do you measure it?

Success, to us, is centered around knowledge sharing and collaboration across signatories. This is why we focus on using our Signatory Portal and connectivity events to easily share successes and challenges as well as continue to expand our list of signatories to draw in even more perspectives and experiences. CEO Action was not designed to be a compliance exercise and we do not ask for metrics from signatories; instead, we encourage companies to create their own accountability systems, to track their progress, and to share updates with each other in order to catalog effective practices.

Fellowship

What is the mission of CEO Action for Racial Equity?

CEO Action for Racial Equity is a fellowship that brings together top talent and resources to advance public policies and corporate engagement strategies that will address systemic racism and social injustice while improving societal well-being. Using CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion as a platform, the Fellowship mobilizes the larger collective business community--across all industries and regions--to facilitate change at the local, state and federal level.

Why was the fellowship created?

As we learn more about the experiences of Black people in our country, it’s clear that things need to change in order to advance racial equity. Effective CEOs need to lead and address social injustices in a consequential way — not just in our workplaces, but in society. We officially launched CEO Action for Racial Equity on October 1, 2020 after realizing the need for a business-led initiative driving racial equity in the public policy arena. The Fellowship’s vision is to improve the quality of life for the 47M+ Black Americans in our country through advocacy and advancement of solutions that seek to end systemic racism.

What are the fellows doing?

Projects and assignments for the Fellows span our eight key policy ideas and our three corporate engagement strategies. We also established a civic engagement working group that focused on Black representation within various levels of government, recognizing that public policy affecting the Black community has the potential to be more effective and sustainable if more Black Americans are represented and engaged in our government. In addition, there are Fellows working on our place-based approach that CEO Action for Racial Equity will pursue in five cities across the country (Oakland, CA, Baltimore, MD, Birmingham, AL, Dallas, TX, and Detroit MI).  We are also developing our state strategy which focuses on four specific states (Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Texas).

How is this different from other initiatives in the marketplace?

CEO Action for Racial Equity is the largest business coalition aimed at advancing racial equity through public policy. It brings together more than 100 companies across the business community --across industries and regions-- to enact change. Its strength comes from the powerful network and reach of organizations who are not just observing change, they are committed to be a part of it, together. An important part of this is our  Fellows--the diverse talent that CEOs have lent from their respective organizations who come with a strong passion and purpose to achieve our mission.