Vivek Ramaswamy is a lifelong vegetarian whose moral beliefs would make him unsuitable for a steakhouse job. He uses this to argue against one-size-fits-all diversity programs like DEI and ESG, saying companies should define their own diversity agendas instead of adopting off-the-shelf mandates.
Chapters
I would not make for a good employee at a steakhouse. I would add diversity in many forms, even viewpoint diversity, but that would not help a steakhouse advance its mission. I'm a vegetarian on moral grounds, whatever. I was raised that way. I believe in that. If I have a choice just for culinary pleasure, I prefer not to kill animals. It relates to some of the same reasons I'm a grounded worldview and philosophy. I'm pro-life. And so that's where I land on this. I called it critical diversity theory was, I think, the chapter in Woke Inc. that sort of described my worldview here. Institutions should be diverse in their approach to diversity. But what I reject is the off-the-shelf approach. And if you have a 3-letter acronym, the chances are that's a good indicator that's off the shelf, to say that there's one set of agendas, be it DEI or ESG or whatever else, CSR, that rejects the pluralism, institutional pluralism amongst the missions of different companies. And so I guess that's kind of the easy answer to the whole thing. Now, I think that if there's a company that's not pursuing its mission effectively and it still is a worthy mission, that under certain conditions, if you take incumbency bias, et cetera, off the table, can be an opportunity for a new market entrant to make a difference.
