You know what no one’s saying out loud in this wave of DEI backlash?

We were never very clear on why diversity was valuable in the first place.

We talked about representation. We talked about fairness. We talked about doing the right thing. But when it came time to explain why increasing diversity actually benefits a company — not just socially, but strategically — we lost the plot. Or maybe we never had it in the first place.

That’s why I believe it’s time to introduce a new lens — one that explains not just what we’re trying to do with DEI, but why it works.

It’s called Lived Experience Intelligence.

Lived Experience Intelligence (LEI) is the workplace skill we’ve never named.

Here’s what I mean: when someone navigates the world through a specific identity — whether that’s race, gender, ability, sexuality, or anything else — they gain intelligence. I don’t mean book smarts or degrees. I mean the kind of intelligence that only comes from navigating a world that wasn’t always built for you.

They learn how to adapt, how to listen between the lines, how to spot gaps in systems others think are flawless. That’s perspective. That’s pattern recognition. That’s empathy. That’s innovation. And that’s Lived Experience Intelligence.

We’ve been benefiting from this intelligence in the workplace all along. But we never named it, never measured it, and never compensated people for it. We just called it “diversity” and left it at that — as if the identity alone was the asset.

But identity isn’t the asset. The intelligence it shapes? That’s the gold.

We put a period where we needed a comma.

Hiring based on identity alone is like placing a period at the end of a sentence that deserves a comma. It's incomplete. It was never about hiring because someone is Black, or queer, or a first-gen college grad. It’s about recognizing that those lived realities often build an uncommon, underappreciated skill set.

In fact, if you’re hiring for customer insight, emotional intelligence, cultural fluency, resilience, or innovation — you’re probably already hiring for LEI. You just didn’t call it that.

DEI isn’t dead — it’s just evolving.

In this political moment, when legislation is trying to erase DEI from the workplace entirely, we need to stop playing defense and start reframing the conversation.

Lived Experience Intelligence is that reframe.

It’s not about tokenism. It’s not about guilt. It’s not about lowering the bar. It’s about finally acknowledging the full skill set that walks into the room when someone has had to navigate bias, advocate for themselves, or build trust where others assumed it.

That’s not a “soft skill.” That’s a survival skill. And in today’s world of work, it’s a competitive one.

It’s time to pay for what we’ve been getting for free.

Here’s the truth: people with lived experience intelligence have been leading teams, advising leadership, mediating cultural misunderstandings, and connecting with clients in ways others couldn’t — all without ever having it named or rewarded.

That ends here.

Lived Experience Intelligence is a skill. And like all valuable skills, it deserves to be recognized, measured, developed, and yes — compensated.

Because when companies stop fixating on identity and start seeing the intelligence identity creates, that’s when diversity stops being a checkbox and starts becoming a strategy.

Let’s raise the bar — not lower it.