How to Support Your Business Through the Chaos

In the lead-up to the 2024 Presidential election, we conducted dozens of interviews and conversations to understand how business could respond to the erosion of democratic norms and protocols.?

The common refrain? Business requires stability and rule of law, which in turn enable trust among parties—the essence of commerce.?

Fast forward to week three of the 2025 Trump White House.?

Rule of law feels fragile. Chaos abounds.

Threats of tariffs against our closest trading partners, mass deportations of immigrants and layoffs of federal workers, and the disruption of contracted payments, foreign aid, public health and security—all have significant implications for business and the workforce.?

The moment for collective action in support of democracy may come, but the first order of business for Chief Executives is the soundness of their enterprise and its workforce.?

Employees need to hear from executives in times of crisis, and the current threats to the workforce, supply chain and norms are real.?How can workers maintain focus on what matters in this moment? And what do they need from their CEOs?

Those fulfilling business-critical commitments need to know they will be supported, whether they are on the frontlines of customer service, working on decarbonization, securing the supply chain, or reskilling jobs and building economic mobility here in the U.S. Business leaders should also model positive civil discourse.?

Executives can demonstrate what it looks like to avoid knee-jerk reactions to the tsunami of headlines designed to confound and intimidate. While the specifics of what comes next are uncertain, businesses can work to insulate itself from the chaos by focusing on the long game.?

That might require finding common ground with other businesses and leaders to build partnerships across industry and sectors. Winning the long game in business will mean being positioned for large-scale problems that can’t be solved one company at a time.?

Steadying the ship in this storm means prioritizing what matters most. That includes understanding factors such as sustainability and workforce decisions as both risk management and competitive advantage.?

It will also be critical to understand the costs of inaction.?

In this week’s Spotlight, Michael Kobori, a sustainability professional with a remarkable record of centering human rights in the supply chain and bringing business together to protect natural systems, calls for shaping a pragmatic view of risk management and business value into a long-term vision that will benefit customers, employees and investors.

This approach is not a nice-to-have, it is the playbook of business enterprises built to last.?

Spotlight: Do Not Despair: The More Things Change, the Stronger the Case for Sustainable Business Becomes

Michael Kobori (he/him) is an independent Board Director at Bunge Global SA. He recently retired as Chief Sustainability Officer of Starbucks and previously led sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co.?

In?this essay, Michael uses?the example of sustainability to emphasize the importance of broader business trends, and calls for business to remain focused on what truly matters. Doing so, he argues, aligns with the “hard economic reasons to continue to pursue a role for the corporation in society” and is one important key to long-term benefits for business, and for society.?

News Roundup

1. How to Prepare for Tariffs and the New Reality of Global Trade?(LinkedIn: 波士顿谘询公司 ) While some tariffs have been paused temporarily, business must move from “what if?” to “what now?” What actions should leaders be taking??(also see?Trump Sows Uncertainty – and Xi Jinping Sees an Opportunity?and?One Response to Trump’s Tariffs: Trade That Excludes the U.S.)
2. Trump’s Latest Tariff Threats Could Hit Global Companies?(The New York Times: Patricia Cohen , River Akira Davis , Eshe Nelson )?“If you’re an investment officer sitting in a C-suite, how do you decide where you’re going to put money?”?(gift link; also see?Explainer: What Worries US Executives About Tariffs?and?Wall Street Rattled by Back-and-Forth Over Trump’s Tariffs)
3. What Company Boards Can Do in Times of Civic Chaos?(Forbes: Michael W. Peregrine )?How can boards partner with management to address “the unprecedented disruption created by the current torrent of executive orders, and the organizational stakes they present”?
4. How Corporate America Got DEI Wrong?(NPR: Maria Aspan )?“‘I’m actually pretty optimistic about the future of this work…?I’m not optimistic about the acronym DEI — nor do I particularly care.’”?Is the increased scrutiny on DEI a chance to finally get it right??(also see?Corporate America Isn’t Abandoning DEI. It’s Rebranding It)
5. What Does Elon Musk Get Out of Remaking the Government??(Consider This: Mary Louise Kelly , Zoe Schiffer )?Why should business take note? Among other reasons, Musk “now is in the position of being able to influence what companies get government contracts.” (also see What’s at Stake for Business With Trump’s Civil Service Plan)

Also on Our Radar

What else caught our attention this week?

• Waffle House is placing a surcharge on every egg it sells
• Side-stepping, not leapfrogging: Africa’s cleantech innovation paradox
• USAid shutdown isn’t just a humanitarian issue – it’s a threat to American interests

How are you working to support your business in this moment? Thanks for reading, forwarding and following. See you next week.

— The Business & Society Navigators

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Founded in 1998, the?Aspen Institute Business & Society Program?works to align business decisions and investments with the long-term health of society—and the planet.