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Good morning. Phil Wahba here, writing from New York. A few years ago, the general public expected American CEOs to chime in on the social issues of the day, from gun control to racial diversity to gay rights. Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously attacked DEI efforts, while Levi’s former CEO was vocal about curbing gun violence, and Starbucks’ founder once encouraged customers to ask baristas about race relations.
Now, many Americans across the political spectrum have grown tired of all that discourse, and chief executives, many bruised from being dragged into the culture wars and attacked by activists, are likely relieved to step down from their soapboxes.
A new nationwide survey of 2,800 Americans by the Stanford University School of Business found that about 55% of Americans think CEOs of large corporations should advocate for social and political issues, down significantly from the 65% who did in 2018 when Stanford last conducted the survey. When CEOs do speak up, Americans want them to comment on issues directly related to their business.
Stanford professor David Larcker, an author of the report, attributes the pullback to the public growing tired of politics seeping into every facet of American life. “How much lecturing can people take?” he said. “‘I don’t want to hear it’ is how many people feel now.”
The results may be a source of relief for CEOs, many of whom have learned the hard way that speaking up is full of peril; after all, advocacy was not necessarily what they signed up for. More than 60% of people Stanford surveyed conceded they have reduced or halted spending on products in the past when they disagreed with a company’s position, twice the rate in 2018. (Recall that Target and Anheuser-Busch were the subject of consumer boycotts because of social stands.) Even a company that keeps its head down can get dragged into the culture wars. There was nothing overtly political about Cracker Barrel’s rebranding last year, yet it sparked an online firestorm.
But not speaking up can still be risky in an era of widespread worry about climate change, AI, war, and so on. One cohort remains more open to CEO opining: Gen Z. Indeed, 70% of them want CEOs to take positions on social, political, and environmental debates. (Baby boomers, meanwhile, are the Americans least interested in hearing CEOs’ political takes.)
But like older respondents, Gen Z is especially interested in hearing CEOs’ perspectives on issues at least tangentially related to running a business, like clean air and water, the environment, sustainability, and AI.
“The world is in turmoil now, and [Gen Z] wants to know how CEOs view these things,” says Larcker.
The lesson for executives tempted to weigh in: know your audience, know your business, and know when to sit down. Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at [email protected]
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