Punch. Business tools, conscious communication, Mr. Dickens.

To Dickens, punch was more than simple party fare. It was a ritual that blended the author’s love for theater, storytelling, and the warm conviviality of a bygone era. And he committed to the performance: Often decked out in a blue velvet cloak, primrose-yellow gloves, glinting watch chains, and a jeweled tie pin, he punctuated his punch-making with narration about the ingredients. According to one account, when the concoction was ready, it was “poured out in the manner of a conjuror producing strange articles from a hat.”

If a company had a problem with sales, you wouldn’t hold a deep, sincere conversation about how much everybody values sales, dedicate a “National Celebrate Sales Month,” and expect anything to change. Unfortunately, that’s a lot of what we’ve been doing in the DEI context.

Businesses need to use basic business tools to solve this business problem—the same ones they use to solve any business problem: evidence, metrics, and persistence, until they achieve their concrete, measurable goals.

In a system that immediately shuts down language (with certain exceptions like slurs and hate speech) that is not intended to cause harm, it’s easier to be met with resistance and unproductive arguments. Honing in on the smaller details of what is said, rather than what is meant, takes away from the opportunity to refine our use of language as a communication tool. That’s where conscious communication and its broader approach to language differs.