Case Study: How One SaaS CEO Rebuilt Trust—and Performance—Through Inclusion
(Name changed for confidentiality)
When a fast-scaling SaaS company began losing top talent—especially from underrepresented groups—the CEO assumed it was a retention issue. What he discovered instead was a leadership blind spot: a disconnect between inclusion efforts and measurable business outcomes.
This case study reveals how one executive moved beyond traditional DEI programs, aligned inclusion with strategic performance, and reshaped his leadership team’s approach to trust, feedback, and engagement.
Learn how to tie inclusion directly to retention, performance, and leadership accountability—without relying on check-the-box DEI programs.
Company Snapshot
Industry: B2B SaaS
Size: Approximately 300 employees
Stage: Series C
Pain Point: High attrition among key talent, leadership disengagement around inclusion, and stalled cultural progress
The Challenge
Despite a visible DEI commitment and several internal initiatives, this SaaS company faced persistent issues:
Quiet exits from high-potential, underrepresented employees
Confusion among senior leaders on what “inclusion” meant in day-to-day operations
Engagement survey fatigue, with little follow-through on cultural data
A growing sense that DEI had become symbolic—not strategic
The CEO recognized that continuing with surface-level efforts would not fix a deeply structural issue. He needed more than training—he needed a reset.
The Turning Point
After attending Aligning Inclusion with Outcomes™, the CEO and his CHRO reframed the problem—not as a culture gap, but as a system design failure.
They realized:
Inclusion isn’t a workshop—it’s a leadership behavior embedded in how decisions, feedback, and recognition are structured.
The session challenged legacy assumptions, provided a blueprint for systemic change, and gave them language to lead with clarity—not apology.
The Outcome
Within 90 days, the leadership team implemented key changes:
Embedded “trust checkpoints” into team and executive reviews
Shifted inclusion metrics from participation to performance impact
Rebuilt onboarding and feedback systems with systemic equity in mind
Clarified manager expectations around belonging, recognition, and psychological safety
Results included:
Attrition dropped by 22 percent among underrepresented groups
Manager confidence increased, with 84 percent reporting clarity on inclusion expectations
Team engagement rebounded, and cross-functional collaboration improved
Testimonial
“We didn’t enroll in this seminar to feel better—we enrolled to fix a retention problem that was quietly draining our talent pipeline.
What James delivered wasn’t a workshop. It was a business intervention. He connected inclusion to outcomes—and to systems. It changed the way we lead.”
— Jason Rami, CEO, Mid-Market SaaS Company
(Name changed for confidentiality)
Why This Matters
This isn’t just a DEI success story. It’s a business case for aligning inclusion with performance.
If you’re leading through complexity and pressure, your inclusion strategy must do more than check boxes—it must drive measurable impact.
Download the Full Case Study
Learn the exact leadership shifts that made the difference
See how system-level redesign outperforms culture decks and one-off trainings
Walk away with three concrete moves to replicate the turnaround in your organization