Do You Know Your Key DEI Risks?

Making decisions about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in today’s landscape is complex. Leaders face legal uncertainty, reputational concerns, financial risks, workforce tensions, and operational challenges—and without a structured way to assess these risks, fear and indecision take over.

That’s why our Decision Scientists created the DEI Risk Assessment Tool—a data-driven, structured approach to help leaders separate real business threats from hypothetical fears and make informed, strategic decisions about their DEI efforts.

About the Calculator

What this tool IS:

  • A structured, quantitative approach to evaluating DEI risk—just like any other business risk.

  • A customizable assessment that will help you ground your risk evaluation in concrete questions and see which areas you need to more deeply evaluate and take action in.

  • A way to identify, measure, and compare DEI risks across five dimensions (Legal & Compliance, Reputational, Financial, Cultural & Workforce, and Operational Risks).

  • A tool to help you move from uncertainty to clarity, providing insights to support strategic DEI decision-making.

What this tool IS NOT:

  • A legal compliance checklist—this tool provides high level risk insights but does not replace legal counsel or an in-depth evaluation.

  • A one-size-fits-all solution—your results will depend on your organization’s context, structure, and goals, which go beyond the scope of this tool.

  • A prescriptive DEI strategy—instead of telling you what to do, this tool helps you understand how to weigh risks and make informed choices.

  • A political statement—this is a business risk management tool designed to help leaders make data-driven decisions in a politically charged environment.

Case Studies

  • Public Sector Client

    A public sector organization initially considered changing the name of its DEI initiatives, fearing potential backlash and hypothetical legal risks tied to shifting federal policies. However, after using the DEI Risk Calculator, they realized that while the legal and financial risks of using the words “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” were lower than expected, the reputational and workforce risks of changing how they referred to this work were greater than they had anticipated. The tool helped them move beyond reactionary fear, providing a clear, data-driven view of real vs. perceived risk across legal, financial, reputational, cultural, and operational dimensions. Grounded in this analysis, they confidently chose to keep using the words Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, while moving away from the acronym, refining their messaging, and ensuring they remained both compliant and aligned with stakeholder expectations.

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  • How Target Could Have Used the DEI Risk Calculator to Navigate Backlash

    When Target faced backlash over its DEI-related product offerings and marketing campaigns, the company had to weigh whether to scale back or maintain its public DEI commitments. At the time, much of the decision-making was reactive—responding to loud external voices rather than assessing which risks were real, which were hypothetical, and which had the greatest impact. Had Target used the DEI Risk Calculator, they could have taken a proactive, data-driven approach to evaluate risks across legal, financial, reputational, workforce, and operational dimensions. The tool would have likely revealed that while some external backlash posed short-term reputational concerns, the long-term risks of alienating employees, customers, and investors who value DEI were greater. It would have helped them distinguish between temporary controversy and sustained business impact, allowing them to adjust their approach without compromising core commitments. By using this structured analysis, Target could have modeled different scenarios, identifying a path that balanced risk, stakeholder expectations, and brand values, rather than making changes under pressure.

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