CDE® Study Domains and Competencies

Personal awareness, authentic leadership, and the ability to manage critical vulnerabilities are essential traits for influential 21st-century leaders. The CDE® is self-aware and committed to lifelong learning, which enables them to lead with empathy.

As organizations look to the future, improving one’s approach to the bottom line encompasses multiple components of sustainability. Also, leaders can effectively secure stakeholder buy-in and resources by understanding DEIA's business case.

Leadership in the DEIA space is complex, especially in large organizations. Mastering this competency allows executives to develop formal frameworks that advance DEIA work while navigating competing dynamics and priorities.

Understanding the unique needs of a diverse workforce helps executives correct practices that prevent inclusive recruitment and retention strategies. The CDE® helps create a pipeline of future leaders and ensures equitable opportunities for all.

An inclusive environment is intentionally designed, nurtured, and supported. DEIA leaders learn to operate a best-in-class effort that fosters equity, defines inclusive excellence, and achieves a discrimination- and harassment-free work environment.

Diversity leaders are challenged to confront age old assumptions about unconscious bias. This competency identifies implicit associations that lead to discrimination, inequality, and exclusion and presents effective techniques to overcome stereotypes and biases.

Constructing a quality board is about the caliber and perspective of individual directors and a group dynamic that allows for effective execution of strategic organizational oversight. Designed to ensure a pipeline of diverse board candidates, this competency helps improve policies and decision-making at the board level.

Small business owners have the potential to be the lifeblood of the economy. An inclusive supply chain strategy that supports minority- and women-owned businesses may solve mission-critical problems and contribute to local economic development.

Global business activity continues to bridge international cultures. DEIA leaders understand the challenges of cultural integration and how to overcome them, positioning them to counsel leadership about potential problems and opportunities.

DEIA leaders play a critical role in driving innovation at their organizations. Fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity of thought can lead to the development of new and innovative products, services, and processes.

Diversity should benefit all people, not just marginalized groups. This competency presents alternatives to an outdated social and power construct in the workplace and encourages all parties to engage in a culture that is becoming increasingly diverse.

Creating a culture that values and advances DEIA starts at the top. The CDE® learns to identify and cultivate executive sponsors, or senior leadership, who help advocate for inclusive initiatives and remove barriers to change.

Diversity leaders align their work with the organization's strategy by identifying the key areas where DEIA can have the biggest impact on success. They also partner with other internal departments and teams, as well as external enterprises that can help extend the organization's reach and impact.

Demographic shifts have a major impact on the workforce and marketplace. Diversity leaders analyze demographic data to develop effective DEIA strategies for service delivery, talent management, marketing, communications, competitive positioning, and more.

DEIA leaders need to be prepared to adapt their strategies to meet the needs of the changing workforce and marketplace. This competency helps leaders evaluate how DEIA efforts have evolved and prepares the organization to adopt forward-thinking practices and strategies.

Collecting data or sharing research reports is not enough. DEIA executives must provide insight into how the data will impact the organization now and in the future. Beyond assumptions or opinions, data allows the organization to benchmark its people, policies, and practices against competitors and other best-in-class enterprises.