Corporate responsibility includes raising the bar, not just toeing the line
Donald Trump certainly knows how to get headlines and attention. The billionaire businessman and reality TV star stirred up a lot of controversy with remarks he made during his announcement that he was running for president. Specifically his comments regarding immigrants bringing drugs, crime and being 'rapists'.
People have and continue to spend a lot of times dissecting and debating his remarks, as well as the response of companies like Univision, NBC and Macy's to sever their business relationships with the mogul. I have seen (and even engaged in) some interesting, polite and well-articulated (and, to be honest some less interesting, impolite and poorly expressed) discussions in person and on line about this situation.
On the other hand, as someone who writes and advocates that corporate responsibility and sustainable business, I have a vested interest in looking at this situation as a business case.
Perhaps, as some suggest, the companies that chose to end their contracts feared a 'backlash' organized by advocates and activists. Or perhaps they feel -- as Macy's articulated so well -- that their values are part of the reason people work there, shop in their stores and want to do business with them, etc. I now -- gladly -- leave those conversations to others. Perhaps people are starting to recognize that, in the words of Anna Lappé; "Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want." And perhaps companies are starting to recognize that they need to get out in front of issues; stand firm on their values, and not wait for a crisis (or advocates) to come to stand up for what they believe.
In the end it will be the free markets -- not the pundits, not talk show hosts, not Twitter, and certainly not I -- that will define the rewards or consequences of decisions to stop doing business with Mr. Trump.
The judgement will be reflected in the quarterly and annual profit and loss statements of the companies that made that decision. It will be indicated by the number of resumes the companies receive where prospective employees articulate that the values expressed in these decisions were factors in their applications. It will be decided by share prices of NBC and Macy's (Univision is privately held). And it will take time for the ultimate determination to be made.
When Macy's made their statement that their values of diversity and inclusion were incompatible with the statements Mr. Trump made they were not questioning his right to say them. They were expressing their freedom of association (and dissociation) with those articulated, public statements. (It would have been a whole different situation if the remarks had not been made in public.)
Several years ago -- when Chick-fil-A's Dan Cathy took a public stance about his and his company's corporate values - I wrote that empowered consumers can change the world. And I still believe it's true. While sales initially rose following the calls to boycott Chick-fil-A both sales -- and the company position -- moderated.
Mr. Trump has said he stands by his remarks. Likewise the companies have stood firm on their actions. And now the markets will decide whether to shun or support the decisions. That's not "political correctness," that's free market capitalism. As it should be.