“Workplace politics” is taking on a whole new meaning: As of this writing, the Trump administration has signed five executive orders related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). Most of these only apply to federal government employees, but one order instructs federal agencies to “encourage” private businesses to abandon DEIB policies and practices.
To help make sense of it all, we sat down with Morgan Williams, CEO of Peak HR, an HR consultancy that provides modern, practical training to the next generation of HR leaders. Here’s how she’s staying grounded, engaged, and on top of it all. (The following conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.)
Reading the News
What were your initial thoughts when the headlines started pouring in?
More than anything, I was surprised that so many people were surprised. Project 2025 has been laid out for a very long time. He really did say that he was going to come in week one, day one, and do all of these things. And that's exactly what he did. We saw the prep and planning way before that. If you're not politically motivated, I can understand not knowing, but I think those of us that had known, we'd already been preparing for this.
So for me, it was much more about keeping my emotions intact and making sure everybody else was okay. Because a lot of the things that were put out, honestly, didn't even impact the private sector, which a lot of people still haven't yet to fully realize.
Let's land on what's real and what's not — that’s where I was trying to focus and spend more of my time instead of getting wrapped up emotionally.
Staying Grounded
Amid the chaos, how should HR practitioners stay grounded in fact?
Understanding executive orders is really important. [Editor’s Note: executive orders are directives from the president, not laws.] Take time to look at each one and what impacts it has. You are still obligated to follow state law and county laws. Right now, those have not changed. And that's the thing that we need to ground ourselves in.
Discrimination is still very real and you can still be legally liable for doing something that goes against that in your policies.
Get rid of the extra noise. Look at your Department of Labor, the EEOC, your state laws — they all have websites explaining the law. Sign up for those alerts.
I truly appreciate thought leaders, but you need to be grounded in actual law and practice because that's what you will be held against, not what a thought leader said.
Separating Fact From Fiction
There’s fact and then there’s fiction. What misconceptions about these orders would you like to dispel?
- The private sector doesn’t have to follow suit. Let's not act like everything that's happening in the public sector is going to happen in the private sector. We do have some people pushing back. Appeals have already started on these. Major organizations are already dealing with this.
- Not all battles are your own. There are some things that are going to be for your company and some things that aren't. What is your ethos? What are your mission, vision, and values? How do these things affect DEI in your company? That's where we need to start putting our focus — because most of this stuff is not even law yet.
Supporting Employees
What do HR teams owe to employees right now?
Take a breath. You are also an employee. We don't think about that a lot.
Be very transparent. We’re in a time where there is a lot of information that is coming out at once. It’s going to take us time to decipher it. And it's going to take us time to get back to employees.
Employees can read executive orders if they want to. Does that mean that they're going to decipher them correctly? Likely not. But if they want some information, it's public for you to see. If they want us to convey what we're going to do, we need to actually do that as a team, an executive team or an HR team to ensure that they are not getting misinformation.
We don't have all the information. Until some of the dust settles on this and goes through the true legal process, we're not going to have answers. People are just going to have to be okay with that, especially in the HR field. We love to have the answers. We're not going to have them right now.
Managing Executives
What would you tell HR practitioners who want to do right by their employees, but have executives or business leaders who are ready to embrace these executive orders?
Well, for one, we're all human. Secondly, implementing these may make us non-compliant.
So once again, we need to do this as a team. Having one leader that's really excited about this doesn't help. This is where you really start grounding yourself back to your mission, vision, and values. They may be really excited about that, but what does your company say?
This is where we ground ourselves. That's why you created them, right? This is the way that we need to be thinking about it, how we need to approach it, how we need to talk about it, because those are the things we wanted our employees to know to be a part of this company.
But it also needs to have that humility and human touch. We're going to be wrong sometimes. Some of these things are going to happen so fast. We'll say we want to move this way, and things are going to change. That's just a part of being human.
Also, this is a really good time to think about employee assistance programs (EAPs) and all the other resources we have. Remind people to start using some of these services. Because you're not going to be able to calm people down.
Finding Support
How can HR teams get meaningful support with these rapid changes?
My career is a bit different than some other HR people, so I may see some things differently. I’ve worked in the government, I've worked in contract law, federal agreements, and employment law. Here’s what I would recommend:
- Follow different types of lawyers, like employment lawyers, discrimination lawyers, and people who are doing workplace equity, so you can see how they're thinking about things. These orders are written to confuse, honestly. Having somebody to decipher and pull out the things you don't really understand is really, really helpful now.
- Speak in safe spaces and communities. For instance, if you have immigration concerns, there are a lot of different communities popping up through different apps. These spaces can help you talk safely in a way that you feel prepared because not everybody is going to have experience with issues or understand how it affects their employees and friends.
- Press your executive teams for input. Ask them: If we say that we're grounded in this, what does this mean? How are we being proactive? How are we handling this as an organization?
Doing the Work
For many, DEIB isn’t just part of their role — it is their role. What would you tell leaders who have dedicated their careers to this work, only to have their value questioned?
Hold strong. We've gone through civil rights. We've gone through affirmative action. We've had all of these names for DEI. It didn't just appear. While people are acting like this is just disappearing — and I know what's happening on the federal landscape — these things will always coexist in some way. It isn't something you can just root out.
Stop focusing so much on the name and start focusing on the work. People are going to challenge you. You have to rid yourself of the noise and really think about why you got into this work because it is going to be hard. It's gonna continuously be hard. You are going to be attacked. And I'm not trying to be insensitive about it, but that's the reality of what is happening right now.
Whatever peace looks like for you, you're going to need a lot of that. This is really where your resilience comes through. People will try to tell you to get out of this line of work. This line of work will need to exist, so I'm not going to be one of the people who says that. It's very important for you to truly take care of yourself and understand where your work is and what you are doing.
What's Next
What’s left for HR to do now?
Be in control of your emotions — people are watching you. Your DEI people are watching you. Your HR professionals are watching you. Your employees are watching you. This is a good time to remember all that stuff that you like on LinkedIn is public.
When you're overwhelmed and pouring out that energy, other people can catch on to that and feel that too. And so instead of pouring that energy out, let's pull out support. Energy is energy. Let's use good energy.
We do have power and I think a lot of people are forgetting that. You can write to your state senators, you can write to Congress, you can volunteer with organizations. There are a ton of books to help you to understand what is going on right now.
There’s power with the people. So when you feel overwhelmed or worthless, remember, that’s how they want you to feel. You don't have to play into that hand.
Feeling inspired? Join the conversation.
Chat, are we cooked? Join the Resources for Humans community to discuss DEIB and other pressing topics with more than 23,000 HR practitioners across the globe. They’re already sharing ideas for doubling down on DEIB in organizations of every size.
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Morgan Williams has been a people leader for over 15 years for small, medium, and enterprise-sized businesses — including household brands like Macy’s and Casper. She is an advisory council member for Harvard Business Review and her areas of expertise include employee relations, HR compliance, and building strategic approaches to modern people problems.
