The argument was that businesses that had already embraced diversity in the c-suite were more successful than their conventional counterparts. It didn’t translate because most of the companies that supposedly “embraced DEIB” only did so as window dressing and didn’t actually change their culture.
In my experience, execs seemed to think “embracing DEIB” equated to hiring one VP DEIB, giving them zero resources, ignoring their input and expecting the mere act of having a VP DEIB (without doing any real work) would change their culture and foster a welcoming place for diverse talent to thrive.