Subscribe to our newsletter

Sometimes the path forward doesn’t disappear. It just gets blocked.

If the old trail is obstructed, the work isn’t to argue with the boulder. It’s to pause at base camp, patiently and strategically, and chart a new route.

That’s where I find myself as the year begins, coming out of winter hibernation. The summit toward a more equitable future hasn’t moved, but parts of the original trail are clearly obscured, often by confusing arguments that claim DEI promotes discrimination rather than dismantles it. One claim, in particular, has become an all-purpose roadblock: DEI equals discrimination.

It sounds definitive but often functions as an obstruction that keeps us debating definitions while the underlying imbalance remains intact. We still face the same stubborn gap in broad representation at the top across race, ethnicity, and gender. It shows up in who advances through career pathways, who wins contracts and builds durable supplier capacity, and who holds an economic seat at the table through investment and ownership.

When companies roll back DEI commitments, the debate usually turns into a binary: right vs. wrong, legal vs. illegal, discrimination vs. fairness. The question isn’t whether the labels change; it’s whether the systems we build perpetuate imbalance or dismantle it. When equity work gets reduced to a debate about discrimination, it helps to shift the conversation from labels to outcomes.

Instead of fighting over terminology, I want to introduce a framework that can outlast the noise: shared ownership.

For me, shared ownership is a practical way to connect equity to outcomes. It asks a simple design question: who shares in decision-making, who shares in opportunity, and who shares in the upside?

In real estate, that question becomes tangible through investment structures that support shared ownership, where residents can hold shares alongside institutional investors, earn dividends, and participate in appreciation. When more people share in decision-making and the upside across career pathways, contract opportunities, and wealth-building, equity stops being a policy preference and becomes baked into the operating model.

With equity built into the structure, shared ownership aligns incentives and clarifies the upside, reducing long-term friction and reputational risk while making coalition-building easier across public, private, and mission-aligned partners.

In the months ahead, I’ll explore the various forms of shared ownership (the who, the what, and the how) and spotlight examples nationwide that are building more durable paths to the summit of equitable outcomes.

P.S. – If this message brings your own journey into focus, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share this with someone who would like to subscribe and learn more about shared ownership. For more information about THM Advisors, visit our website or download our capabilities sheet.