DEI and merit. A case study

Joe Rogan's comments (see link) about the perceived shortcomings of Karine Jean-Pierre, press secretary for President Biden, got me to thinking.https://americanwirenews.com/joe-rogan-wonders-how-diversity-hire-karine-jean-pierre-got-her-job-shes-fking-terrible/?utm_campaign=james&utm_content=3-10-24%20Daily%20AM&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=Get%20response&utm_term=email

To be sure, Jean-Pierre fills, in spades, requirements for DEI based selection criteria for senior positions in the Biden administration: she is black; she is a lesbian. You can be top notch competent if you are a black lesbian, but Jean-Pierre struggles at the job, underscoring the strong possibility that DEI trumped merit in bringing her on. The Biden administration, likely, belatedly, recognizing its appointment error of minimizing merit as a selection criterion, has recently, with greater frequency, been substituting retired admiral John Kirby as Whitehouse spokesman. Also, Kirby travels with the president. Jean-Pierre does not. Jean-Pierre, in a sense, is left twisting in the wind as her role is undermined.

It is problematical on two fronts to put an underqualified person in a senior position based on criteria other than merit. It's bad for the public to witness ineptitude since it reflects poorly on the overall competence level of the administration. But it is worse for the person involved as he/she will never understand the reason for the humiliation of being crowded out or removed from the position. The response of a person put in this situation, if he/she is not eased, empathetically, out of the role for which he/she is unqualified, will be to become bitter and vindictive. Jean-Pierre's diminished role will likely only serve to reinforce her conviction that systemic racism is at the root of it all. Affirmative action/DEI job placement, when giving short shrift to merit, negates the natural forces of improvement from failure and success.

I inherited the secretary of my predecessor when I took over the position as CEO of Citicorp Savings of Florida in 1986. She was black. Amiable and upbeat though she was, she didn't measure up in a number of ways. Among others, her pronunciation was off target... "axe" for ask. Shortly after my arrival, I suggested to her that she might like to broaden her experience base and work somewhere else in the company. She seemed OK with this. I transferred her to a mortgage processing clerical position where she thrived. So far, it doesn't look like the administration is preparing Jean-Pierre for a soft landing, and a chance for real growth, like my secretary received.

Merit accomplishment is not a function of race. I have had secretaries of many races: Anglo Indian, Indian, Filipina, Japanese, Australian, Trinidadian (black), and white American. All were highly competent. DEI selection, at the expense of merit, may enable a sense of virtuousness by guilty feeling functionaries, but it does great damage to the individual whose merit ability doesn't measure up to the task, not to mention how it encourages dysfunctional cynicism in the minds of those affected by the choice of hire.