Should I Say Something When...? The CEO Dilemma

As the world unfolds in unfathomable ways, organizational leaders have been having a continuous, underlying conversation about when and how to speak up. CEOs and leaders are constantly grappling with whether or not to say something, what to say, and when to speak up and share their position.

It’s really not a new conversation but a continued one as leaders over the last few years have continued to sit on the see-saw of share or don’t share and to whom, externally and internally. Many teams have attempted to try to build decision-making matrices that help them decide when it's appropriate. But the truth is, no matter how many models you build, no model can cover everything happening in our communities.

It’s just not that simple.

So, what can CEOs do?

I believe there are 3 truths to accept and 3 questions to ask each time.

You're never going to get it right. The time that you don't speak will be when someone believes you should speak. And, when you speak, there will never be someone on your team who thinks that was not the time to speak. It's really going to be about trusting your gut, leadership, listening to the people on your team, and then doing what feels right in your gut.

You're not going to please everyone. You're just not going to please everyone with what you say. There are only so many times you can speak out and say, "We're with you. We're thinking about you. We're understanding where you're coming from," without action that means anything, and people want more than just thoughts and prayers. Sometimes, thoughts and prayers are genuinely all you may have to give.

Sometimes, you need to make emotional decisions. Sometimes, you just need to throw away the decision-making matrix because it won't matter what you’ve developed for “moments like this.” To speak, some decisions will be made by emotional decisions because we are human and have emotions. That's okay.

Once you’ve accepted these truths and you know they will be true no matter the magnitude of the situation, your next step is to understand the news that’s right in front of you and ask yourself and your team 3 things:

1. In what way does what is happening directly or indirectly impact our team? There could be something that is happening that is specific to a region that many of your team members are in. It's not national or global news, but it directly impacts what's happening for a team, and that’s when they need to hear from you.

2. In what way does this directly impact our business?

Think about how this directly impacts your business. For example, if you work with an organization focused on serving children right now, your message might be less about who is right and who is wrong and more about standing by, stating that your stance is that all children should have access to a safe place to live. Really think about whether this impacts your work, who you serve, and who your stakeholders are in some direct way.

3. What can we actually do that is beyond just words?

You want to think about what you can do beyond words. So many statements without action can lead people to feel like you're just recycling the same message over and over again, and to an extent, you probably have. Consider if there is more that you can do than, say, in the form of people, money, resources, systems, or policy changes.

All of these truths, questions, and advice still lead to the same singular truth:

We may be unable to speak and act on everything in front of us. The one thing that we can always do is prioritize caring for our people:

• Create space for individual and collective thoughts and actions.
• Show empathy and grace even when your viewpoints differ.
• Seek to understand more than you rush to make a statement.
• And when you get it wrong, because the truth is, at some point, we will or have, you can simply be accountable for your words and move forward.

It's not a perfect decision of when to speak, but it is a decision that centers on people first.