How can businesses do the right thing in a turbulent world?

To my mind, there has never been a time when it was more important, and yet more difficult, for businesses in the legal sector and beyond to operate ethically. In this hyper-transparent, social-media age, firms and their leadership teams are confronted with so many pitfalls and dilemmas that it can sometimes feel like an almost impossible task to safely navigate these, especially when much of the advice on how to do this can be very poor indeed.

This is why I am so excited about the publication of Alison Taylor ’s new book, HIGHER GROUND: How Business can do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World, which has just been released and can be bought on Amazon.?

Alison is a clinical professor at NYU Stern School of Business and the Executive Director at Ethical Systems, a research collaboration of prominent business school professors working on ethical culture. She has spent decades advising large multinationals on risk, corruption, sustainability, and organisational culture. She is also a colleague of mine, as we have worked together in the field of political risk and analysis.

In HIGHER GROUND, Alison takes a practical and pragmatic approach to help leaders figure out the right choices for their business in a world of contradictory expectations. She was kind enough to talk to me about her new book, and the challenges businesses currently face. I hope you find her thoughts as interesting as I did.?

What guidance do you feel your book can provide to help leaders navigate the current business landscape?

“It has never been tougher to run a business than in our current era. Businesses face the very steepest of uphill battles, not least because of the many compounding political, social, cultural, and environmental pressures they face in an increasingly hyper-transparent world. And as if that weren’t enough, much of the advice out there on how to navigate these pressures is truly bad, to the point of being egregious.

“So what I hope my book does is, firstly, to provide some practical guidance on how to forge a path that leads businesses safely past all these various pitfalls, and helps them to create a clear strategy that puts an end to any unforced errors on their part. And secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I hope my books helps us to have a better conversation about all these challenges; to share new ideas, challenge preconceptions and spark debate; and, ultimately, to help find a way forward so that businesses can do better and not fall prey to unrealistic expectations, hypocrisy, greenwashing and the myriad other threats they face.”

What risks do you think will emerge for businesses in 2024?

“One of the very biggest risks is how business is involved in politics and what kind of influence it wields behind the scenes. This is such a big topic for 2024 because of the many elections taking place this year: half of the world is going to the polls, including the UK and the USA. So we can definitely expect to see business being drawn into the ongoing political conversation, and this is something we are already clearly witnessing in America in particular.

“Another of the hot-button issues this year will be diversity and inclusion, something that can really trip businesses up when they get it wrong. We still see middle-aged white men dominating business, media and politics, and I don’t believe they have all achieved their positions of power and influence through talent. So although we are seeing mounting backlash against DEI in the States and, to a lesser extent, here in the UK, the original problem certainly hasn’t gone away – and businesses are going to face a big struggle when trying to recruit and retain talent under the age of 30 unless they demonstrably become more diverse, equal and inclusive over time.

“Thirdly, and on a related theme, 2024 will see companies come under increasing pressure over so-called wokewashing, a term used to describe the phenomenon of companies paying lip service to social-justice causes – first and foremost on sustainability, which is also known as greenwashing – to try and boost their reputation without actually making a real and concerted effort to operate more ethically. I think we will see a lot more litigation and a growing backlash against companies for engaging in exaggeration and hypocrisy. Businesses will have to navigate this minefield by being much more careful about the promises they make to their employees and stakeholders.”

Where do you think companies should draw a line in their interaction with the public via their uniform and unified persona as a brand?

“In this brave new world, businesses are often talked about online as if they were one single entity that is either good or evil, with little room for a more nuanced understanding of companies as a complex system. So what appears as deliberate hypocrisy to the outside world is often more likely the result of a lack of joined-up thinking and clear internal communication and coordination across different departments. And this is a big part of the problem: none of the big issues we have talked about fit neatly into the remit of any single department or area, as they might once have done in the past.

“Whether or not we trust brands is certainly important. But it is unrealistic and indeed unfair to expect corporations to solve systemic issues – and I am especially thinking of US-specific concerns here, such as abortion or gun control, but also the wider issue of climate change – in the absence of concerted and sustained help from the state.

“However, this is one of the areas where brands can sometimes be their own worst enemy, playing to the gallery by suggesting that they are able to solve problems, or at least play a fundamental role in helping to solve them, without this actually being a realistic prospect. This kind of exaggeration and greenwashing is what ultimately lands them in hot water with consumers, and potentially also with regulators and legislators.”

What does corporate responsibility look like in 2024?

“It’s about companies being much more sober and responsible about the problems they claim to solve; treating their employees with dignity and respect; focusing on their impact on human beings; seeing culture as a strategic advantage; being more responsible about their role within wider social, environmental and political systems and not trying to exploit those systems to their own ends.”

Who within the business should get to decide whether and when to speak up or speak out on certain issues?

“Firstly, businesses need to have conversations with their employees to make it clear that speaking up on something or taking a position on an issue might have far-reaching reputational consequences, and get everyone to think this through before making any hasty decisions.

“Secondly, it is crucial that businesses have a cross-functional team in place, and don’t simply leave it to the CEO to make judgement calls on their own. The decision as to whether to speak up certainly should not be delegated to the communications team.?

“The compliance, HR, government relations, communications, strategy and senior leadership teams all need to be in a room together to discuss these issues, and be very careful about what topics the business is and is not going to speak up on. Before saying anything, it is vital to have all one’s ducks in a row. Don’t stand up and say that you care about diversity if your diversity programme isn’t very good, for example. This is fundamental if a business is not to appear hypocritical or disorganised to the public.”

This month, I am excited about…

Wow, firstly, I’d just like to say yesterday was a very exciting day, debating at The Oxford Union - the world’s most famous debating society. This was the second debate in 200 years to be an all women debate!

What did I love about it? That I was part of the ‘love debate’, The proposition was nothing short of challenging: ”This house believes women have to sacrifice too much for love”. I was joined on the opposition by Love Island’s, Olivia Hawkins. Hopefully you’ll get to view it all on YouTube once it’s edited.

Caring in legal

I’m very excited that Next 100 Years has partnered with LawCare and RPC to survey women in loaw ‘who cares’ survey, so that we can understand the pressures professionals are facing in our careers. Please take a few minutes out of your day to fill it out anonymously here.

Ten year anniversary of The Next 100 Years?

You can very much consider this a teaser – I am already getting excited about the ten-year anniversary of The Next 100 Years starting in March 2024 and running for the next year or so. We have lots of great things planned, so watch this space!