I admit to being suspicious. Tractor Supply went woke, and within weeks, after a public pressure campaign, they relented. No more of that DEI or woke culture stuff for them. Two weeks later, we learn that John Deere went woke, too. Another pressure campaign rises, and in short order, they announce, what?
We’re sorry, we’ll stop. But John Deere was all in. I mean, ALL IN.
• Funding a pride event for kids as young as 3
• “Genderbread man” training
• They ask employees to list their “preferred pronouns” on all communications
• Bill Gates is listed as their largest shareholder
• John Deere celebrated their accounting and finance team taking United Way’s 21 day “United For Equity” program
• When I did “United For Equity” program it promoted Ibram Kendi, the woke children’s book “Anti-Racist Baby”, “Awake to Woke to Work”, a podcast on the concept of “Whiteness”, woke activist Robin DiAngelo, bigotry against Christians who supposedly have “Christian Privilege” and more
• The woke policies have spread across the global John Deere brand with many of their DEI policies also being forced on their Latin America and India branches
• LGBTQ & race based identity groups at corporate
• A total commitment to DEI policies
• 95/100 CEI score from the HRC
John Deere announced Tuesday that it will cut all DEI activities not required by law and return to that novel but outdated concept of a workforce based on performance.
Congratulations. That’s two for two (sort of). John Deere,
“… will no longer participate or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events. Business Resouce Groups will exclusively be focused on professional development, networking, mentoring, and supporting talent recruitment efforts. Auditing all company-mandated training materials and policies to ensure the absence of socially motivated messages, while being in compliance with federal, state, and local laws. Reaffirming with the business that the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy. We fundamentally believe a diverse workforce enables us to best meet our customers’ needs, and because of that, we will continue to track and advance the diversity of our organization.
John Deere is not wholly out of the woods, but this is still a win for John Deere. Their customers won’t have to buy farm equipment or tractors from someone else. I hope they see that.