I just got kicked off a diverse thought panel for wrongthink: Corporate DEI lives on

Woke capitalism is alive and well.Don’t be fooled by American companies’ public statements suggesting they’re abandoning identity-based diversity, equity and inclusion policies in favor of merit and diversity of thought.I’m here to prove it: I’ve been canceled.Again.This time, bounced from a conference boasting a theme of “breaking down walls.”Five months ago, Peer 150, a networking group for top human resources executives, asked me to speak at one of its events.I was pleasantly surprised: I’m pretty well known at this point as being aggressively non-woke.In 2020, I was the only C-suite executive in a major Fortune 1000 company to push back against lockdowns and school closures during the pandemic.I resigned from Levi’s, a company I’d worked in for 23 years.

And then I was banished from all of corporate America for my disobedience.When I went on to interview for big jobs at big companies in 2023, I was told I’d need to apologize for my stance — despite having been proven absolutely right about school closures being harmful to the nation’s most disadvantaged children. I went public, decrying woke capitalism for its harmful stifling of creativity and innovation as it smothers speech.And I started my own company, XX-XY Athletics, the only brand of activewear standing up for the protection of women’s sports.

That’s not helping me get myself un-canceled.So the invitation to air my heterodox views at such a mainstream conference was shocking — but a hopeful sign of change.The invitation-only Peer 150 conference brings together 800 HR leaders from companies like NBC, Ikea, REI and Universal Music Group to listen to experts’ presentations and discuss pressing corporate issues.The event, set for Portland, Ore., trumpeted that it would “welcom[e] all walks of life with open arms,” under the banner “Keep Portland Weird.”“Our weird is about inclusiveness,” the conference website proclaims. “You do realize this crowd might boo ...