As the CEO, should I speak out on socio-political issues?

One of the most difficult aspects of a CEO’s job today is figuring out when and how you should publicly comment on socio-political issues, i.e. societal issues that impact on human rights.

There are CEOs who prefer to speak out only on issues that feel ‘safe’, for example mental health, Covid-19 restrictions, gender diversity, remote working.? Even climate change to a point.

Without a second of hesitation, some CEOs are more than willing to speak out against issues that might have a detrimental effect on revenue or prevent access to territories or new markets. Typically, CEOs are willing to speak? publicly, vigorously and sometimes aggressively to lobby politicians to sway legislation and government edicts. Yet there is reticence towards speaking out on social issues, particularly if those social issues are deemed ‘controversial’. Or political.

But expectations have changed, and the question has become not so much if you should speak out, but when.?

“It’s a bloody minefield”

Recent public repercussions for CEOs who have fallen foul of saying the wrong thing, coupled with a fear of ‘cancel culture’ and potential impact on brands and reputation, means too much time and energy is spent on debating whether or not you should speak out.? The comms team is involved. Your external reputation management company in some instances. It’s not that this debate is a bad thing, it’s that it always happens in the midst of a crisis. Proactive rather than reactive. And when you’re in this space, it’s difficult to balance what intentional and authentic commentary looks and feels like.?

JUST Capital’s annual survey concluded that the American public believe, ‘CEOS have a role to play in influencing lawmakers regarding social and economic policy, in that the US general public look for corporate leaders to take on issues ‘above and beyond business operations’, and that there is an expectation for CEOs to speak out on pressing social issues, including inequality, racial inequity and threats to democracy.

The expectations stated within the report are not confined to those of one nation. The EYQ also reports that globally, ‘investors and boards expect CEOs to respond to humanity’s greatest challenges.’

However, if you ask a CEO, you may get a different response. According to 2021 annual survey of Fortune 500 CEOs , they share diverging opinions:

• 50% said CEOs have a responsibility to speak out on important social and political issues and should continue to do so.
• 50% believe CEOs have recently gotten too involved in commenting on social and political issues and need to pull back.

Where would you sit?

"The Ukrainian situation is different.

How could we not care about this?

It's important we take a stance."

The world is changing and so must we

The issue of when to speak up is also one of cultural differences. In the US, CEOs of large corporations are much more likely to be public in their views, not only just based on public statements but where they lobby local politicians and even donate to ensure specific legislation has the best chance of being pushed through. Provided it’s in the corporate interests of course.?

Whereas in the UK, we are more reticent and even within FTSE 100/250 companies, a ‘scripted statement’ approach is more common than an authentic viewpoint. And corporate donations to local MPs are very rarely transparent.

What both US and UK organizations have in common however, is a preference to show ‘solidarity’ through their brand social media accounts, a technique that? risks trivialising serious issues to hashtags, Black squares, raised fists and country flags.?

“If you are a business leader, you will be asked to speak on a wide variety of deeply political and socially oriented questions, including matters of race and racial injustice.”

Prof. Desai (Harvard University)

So what do you do?

Prepare for the when, not if

Where corporate leaders make mistakes is when they are too reactionary in their responses.? They lack frameworks and some haven’t even had a conversation, from a corporate governance perspective, on outlining social, political and economic issues which they are more or less likely to engage with and why.

In the UK for example, many brands took to social media to tweet or post their support of Black Lives Matter. Then nine months later, when the UK government concluded their Race Disparities Report and denied that Britain had an institutional racism problem, many organizations stayed silent, both internally and externally.?

Yet when the Derek Chauvain trial was concluded, brands quickly took to social media to proclaim it was a win for racism (or other variations) which immediately drew criticism for being performative, tone deaf and lazy considering the lack of action taken by both corporations and institutions to address racism and inequalities.

Let’s take another example.

The stance of the Russia/Ukrainian situation. Solidarity, donations, public declarations from the personal social media accounts of CEOs and senior executives. This is a first considering the political nature of the topic. Why is this so much easier to comment on in comparison to the anti-abortion legislation in Texas even though it undermines constitutional rights? Or, Texas’ (again) raft of anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives? Or the continued Palestine/Israeli conflict?

"When you talk racism, can you not mention George Floyd? We have a policy that says colleagues are not allowed to talk about politics."

To avoid issues that deeply affect your colleagues, customers and community erodes trust and credibility, particularly if you are known to be vocal in other ‘less contentious’ issues. Or where you feel it’s safe to do so. Or where you feel an enhanced sense of empathy for ‘people who look like you’....

The way forward

1. Be clear on the issues you are most likely to engage with.? Broadly speaking, you should think about issues which impact on your company values, your employees or your customers. For example sixty-five companies including Apple, Capital One, Google, Ikea, LinkedIn, Paypal, Microsoft and Yahoo signed an open letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott to highlight how “discrimination is bad for business.”

2. Critically evaluate your performance. The last year or so has given you plenty of examples to run hypothetical situations and critically evaluate your response or lack thereof of social, political or economic issues that arose. Treating this as a corporate governance issue, seize it as an opportunity to take a more intentional and consistent approach with how you engage with socio-political issues going forward.

3. Find out how all of your stakeholders feel about certain issues. Whilst it may feel time-consuming and like overkill, this insight will give you an idea about what matters to those in your ecosystem so when you do speak out, their reaction does not surprise you and your reaction does not surprise them.?

4. Communicate your stance and approach to your colleagues in advance. Don’t be like the Founders of Basecamp who announced their approach via a public blog.? Colleagues need context and if you want to help them understand your decision-making process, they are more likely to support and/or offer you critical insights which may help you avoid making public missteps.

5. Test your messages and approach with people you trust and who can give you a different viewpoint. If your executive board, and by extension your external PR support looks the same as you, it increases the chances of you making a misstep, particularly in the arena of racism and racial equity.?

6. Give your teams and key stakeholders a heads up. No one likes to be caught unawares and building a culture of trust and responsibility means to respect the individuals who may be impacted by what you say, or don’t say.

“This is not about playing politics or prioritizing social activism over making money. It’s about building stronger, better businesses that give ordinary hard-working people the opportunities they deserve, that sustain our sense of community, that restores faith and trust in markets, and that ultimately provide a path to upwards economic mobility that, right now, feels out of reach for so many.”

- Martin Whitaker, CEO, JUST Capital

--

Shereen is Author of The Anti-Racist Organization - Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace (Wiley, 2022) , founder + Managing Director of anti-racism and racial equity advisory firm, HR rewired and Chair of the African Diaspora Economic Inclusion Foundation . Winner of HR Most Influential Thinker 2021, her story has been featured in Forbes and she is recognised as one of LinkedIns Top Voices for 2020 and 2022.?