Where Do You Stand When Every Stance Sends a Message?

This week, we explore how business leaders are navigating a world where every stance sends a message.

As Pride campaigns go quiet, diversity and sustainability commitments evolve, tariffs hit hard and protests make headlines, the question isn’t just how companies respond, it’s whether today’s leaders still have the courage to do what they know is right and lead.

And as Judy Samuelson says in her Spotlight essay, “Transformation is a long-term game, and this is a transformative moment. Opportunity abounds.”

The role of business leadership is shifting. Are today’s executives ready?

Spotlight: What’s the Business Case For?

The chaos continues. Last week it was tariffs, this week, growing protests over immigration and ICE. The threat of AI-induced layoffs of both blue-collar and white-collar workers was lurking in the background. No longer. And the noise overshadows the drumbeat of climate commitments at risk and undermined through abrupt changes in policy.  

Name a problem, and it’s not hard to find a link to the impacts on business and the state of the workforce. The private sector is needed for massive investment in infrastructure, including long-term and complex commitments and collaborations to secure supply chains and decarbonize. Policy aside, corporate protocols and norms will be instrumental when it comes to wise use of technology. Declaring it not a problem doesn’t make real risks like climate change diminish. Business leaders need to make meaningful progress across multiple fronts. 

In this new essay, Judy Samuelson returns to this question of influence from the C-suite, and the interplay between taking a stand, or committing the firm to a bold vision, and making the proverbial “business case” to fully engage the enterprise and capital. Vision is different than making the business case play different roles.   

Both are important. 

News Roundup

1. Big Brands Are Staying Quiet This Pride Month (CNN Business: Nathaniel Meyersohn) What are the consequences when companies “show up only when it’s convenient, or backtrack the moment there’s political pressure”? (also see Pride 2025 Events Are Big Business. But Corporate Sponsors Are Fleeing.)
2. The Myth of the Silent Executive (Triple Pundit: Mary Mazzoni ) While headlines like those above highlight firms staging retreats, not all leaders are abandoning the ideas that help their companies succeed. “If you want to see change, you need to speak out. There is power in numbers.” And as new coalitions begin to form, she asks Daniella Ballou-Aares and others, is the business majority done being silent? (also see Wall Street CEOs Go Through the Five Stages of Tariff Grief)
3. Dismantling DEI: Investors Weigh the Risks (Top1000funds: Sarah Rundell ) How are firms and DEI professionals assessing the risks and rewards of the current business landscape? (also see this recent study of Cognitive Diversity in Asset Management)
4. Private Capital Is Missing the Opportunity of the Century (Newsweek: Åsmund Grøver Aukrust, Patrick Verkooijen ) “The climate adaptation ecosystem is a $4 trillion opportunity. Why say no to that?”
5. It’s Time to Update How Your Company Talks About Sustainability (Harvard Business Review: Kim Grob, MFA , Vivian S. Lee, MD, PhD, MBA ) Stay quiet or speak up? “In this highly charged environment, staying quiet can seem like the safest way to mitigate risk. However, this is a short-sighted strategy.” (gift article; and for ways to move aspiration to reality, see Embedding Sustainability Into Strategy Execution)
6. Why We Must Put Ocean-Positive Solutions at the Heart of Global Development (Inter Press Service: Francine Pickup ) This week’s UN Ocean Conference shines a spotlight on the need to accelerate action on ocean sustainability. What can the private sector do? (also see How Are Oceans Faring in a Heating World? and is it reasonable to think that AI Can Help Save Our Oceans?)

Also on Our Radar

What else caught our attention this week?

• Red Tape Isn’t the Only Reason America Can’t Build
• The Daunting Challenge Facing U.S. Business Schools
• Now More Than Ever, Corporate Boards Need to Balance Innovation and Trust
• Lessons in Leading Through Crisis From Jacinda Ardern (🎧 with transcript)

What are your thoughts on business leadership at this moment? We welcome your comments, and thanks for reading, forwarding and following. We’ll 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.