{"id":60372,"date":"2023-11-14T12:41:35","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T17:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=60132"},"modified":"2025-11-03T08:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T13:48:12","slug":"cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers: Alignment, Burnout &#038; Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Senior Executives Share Their Challenges &amp; Aspirations for the Future<\/h2>\n<p>The role of the Chief Diversity Officer is at a critical crossroads. In a shifting political environment, these leaders face intense pressure as their mandates and goals \u2014 and even the terms used to discuss their work \u2014 are shifting.<\/p>\n<p>In the past few years, significant strides have been made at many organizations in terms of building and executing meaningful strategies that advance inclusion and belonging. Continued progress will require substantive, sustained investments that support the work of executives in order to overcome organizational challenges and personal burnout.<\/p>\n<p>Find out what we learned from our research with Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) from across the United States. In this paper, we offer insights from senior leaders, grouping the most common challenges into themes of where they told us they struggle most: getting organizational <i>a<\/i>lignment, preventing personal <i>b<\/i>urnout, and building committed <i>c<\/i>ultures.<\/p>\n<p>From their stories, experiences, and aspirations, we can learn how to overcome these challenges to create more equitable and inclusive workplaces for everyone.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"d-none\">Download Report<\/h2>\n<div class=\"callOut\">\n<div class=\"h2Display\">Download Report<\/div>\n<p>Download our paper, <em>The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers,<\/em> to learn more about the challenges and aspirations of these executives and how best to support their important work.<\/p>\n<div class=\"buttonPosition\"><a class=\"buttons button1\" href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/the-abcs-of-chief-diversity-officers-center-for-creative-leadership.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"Download the The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers report now.\" data-material-type=\"research report\" data-element-type=\"action button\" data-element-cta=\"Download File\" data-element-position=\"1\">Download Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The role of these executives is at a critical crossroads. Download this report to learn what we found are their challenges, experiences, and aspirations \u2014 and how best to support them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":60133,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60372","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categories-collaboration-relationship-skills","categories-belonging","categories-leadership-challenges","categories-organizational-culture-change","categories-resilience-stress","audience-executives","audience-hr-consultants","impact-level-senior-leaders","region-americas","article-type-white-papers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chief Diversity Officers Research: Challenges &amp; Aspirations | CCL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Download this Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) research report to learn the top challenges and aspirations they shared with us.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers: Alignment, Burnout &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DEI executives today are at a critical crossroads. Download this report to learn what they told us about their challenges and aspirations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CCL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-03T13:48:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/the-abcs-of-chief-diversity-officers-research-report-ccl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"DEI executives today are at a critical crossroads. Download this report to learn what they told us about their challenges and aspirations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CCLdotORG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chief Diversity Officers Research: Challenges & Aspirations | CCL","description":"Download this Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) research report to learn the top challenges and aspirations they shared with us.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers: Alignment, Burnout & Culture","og_description":"DEI executives today are at a critical crossroads. Download this report to learn what they told us about their challenges and aspirations.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/","og_site_name":"CCL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","article_modified_time":"2025-11-03T13:48:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":864,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/the-abcs-of-chief-diversity-officers-research-report-ccl.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_description":"DEI executives today are at a critical crossroads. Download this report to learn what they told us about their challenges and aspirations.","twitter_site":"@CCLdotORG","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Helton","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec"},"headline":"The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers: Alignment, Burnout &#038; Culture","datePublished":"2023-11-14T17:41:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-03T13:48:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/"},"wordCount":214,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/the-abcs-of-chief-diversity-officers-research-report-ccl.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/","name":"Chief Diversity Officers Research: Challenges & Aspirations | CCL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/the-abcs-of-chief-diversity-officers-research-report-ccl.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-14T17:41:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-03T13:48:12+00:00","description":"Download this Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) research report to learn the top challenges and aspirations they shared with us.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/the-abcs-of-chief-diversity-officers-research-report-ccl.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/the-abcs-of-chief-diversity-officers-research-report-ccl.jpg","width":864,"height":483,"caption":"The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers CCL CDO Research Report on DEI Executives"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/cdo-executives-share-their-challenges-aspirations-for-the-future-alignment-burnout-culture\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"White Papers","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/article-type\/white-papers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers: Alignment, Burnout &#038; Culture"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","name":"CCL","description":"Leadership Development Drives Results. We Can Prove It.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization","name":"Center for Creative Leadership","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","width":864,"height":483,"caption":"Center for Creative Leadership"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CCLdotORG","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ccldotorg\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/center-for-creative-leadership\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec","name":"Carrie Helton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Carrie Helton"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/author\/carrie-helton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/60372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/60372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}