By Rachel Barton, Europe Strategy Lead at Accenture
Many CEOs I’ve talked to recently are not only grappling with geo-political and macroeconomic challenges, they’re also facing growing demands from their employees, customers and other stakeholders to ‘stand up and be counted’ on the major political and social issues of our time. This is a shift away from the traditional style of leadership, where CEOs focused their communications on the health of the business from a profit and loss perspective and actively avoided speaking out on social or political topics. I recently explored this change in leadership and the important role of productive activism in business with my colleague Debra McCormack, Accenture’s Global Board Effectiveness Lead, Des Dearlove, Co-Founder of Thinkers50, and Megan Reitz, Professor at the Hult International Business School and Author of ‘Speak Up’, which covers the important role of activism in business today.
Here are my reflections, following our conversation.
What is activism?
For some, the word evokes feelings of passion, purpose and positive change. For others, it will conjure images of violent clashes between protesters and the authorities. It can be all these things – and more – but Megan’s research focuses on the role of productive employee activism in the workplace. She writes that activists are not only resilient, authentic advocates for what they believe in, but also brilliant listeners with an enquiring mind – hugely valuable inside any organisation.
Leadership is changing, and CEOs need to keep up
Traditionally, business leaders have avoided lobbying, showing their political colours or speaking up on political or social issues, but times are changing. A recent Kellogg School of Management article shares the results of some research conducted in the US, which found that ‘audiences often regard those who take a neutral public position not as principled or genuinely neutral, but rather as calculating and deceptive’. Increasingly, organisations are expected to take sides in political or social debates, rather than just communicating business strategy and annual financial results. Another on-point article in Forbes explains how, for the CEOs of the world’s largest companies, navigating when and how to show solidarity, allyship and citizenship is fraught with real and perceived risk:
“The consequences of both action and inaction can be measured in an ecosystem of reputational, economic and/or political impacts. The fear of alienating people, be they buyers, subscribers, employees or shareholders en-masse, has long kept good people and good companies from doing more good things and standing up against more bad things.”
The article goes on to say that staying out of the cultural fray is no longer an option, no matter the risks, as stakeholders – whether employees, customers, partners or vendors – are increasingly looking to businesses to address social issues.
Business leaders have a responsibility to ensure their workplace culture is inclusive so diverse teams can thrive.
Intent matters
Creating a speak-up culture in your organisations might sound simple to achieve. In recent years more people want to bring their whole self to work, with a desire to be open about their background, home life and more. Indeed, through lockdown we all got a glimpse inside each other’s homes as face-to-face meetings gave way to video calls. Many companies have employee networks and forums, which provide regular opportunities for people to share their lived experiences, opinions and ideas with each other. But what happens if employees are encouraged to speak up, yet are not listened to? This could impact talent joining the business or existing talent may choose to leave. Authentic intent matters. If businesses are asking people to speak up, that needs to be backed up with action.
The rise of activism in the boardroom
We’re seeing the rise of modern leaders who are stepping up and making their voices heard on everything from politics to climate change, from health and wellbeing to tackling inequality within society. For example, Satya Nadella from Microsoft regularly posts on his LinkedIn profile and Twitter feed about tackling racial inequality, the need for greater disability inclusion in the workplace and why every business must take positive climate action urgently. Ellyn Shook, Accenture’s Chief Leadership and Human Resources Officer, has written honestly and passionately about her opinion on the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade in the US and what Accenture is doing to support women in our workforce as a result.
For me there are three main factors leading to the rise of boardroom activism. Firstly, there’s a growing frustration with ongoing political turmoil. Secondly, there has been an increased blurring of the lines between business and society. We already saw a shift in the role of businesses solving for their customers and wider society at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and this has continued. Finally, many stakeholders are clearly demanding that corporate leaders take a stand on issues and speak out about what they’re doing about them. This is leading CEOs to feel more empowered to show their true colours. They understand that role-modelling positive activism will not only reduce the risk of wrong-doing across the organisation as more people feel comfortable speaking up, they’ll also be able to tap into vital knowledge, experience and ideas from their people too. At Accenture, for example, our leadership team is vocal about sustainability and we enable and empower our passionate employees to collaborate and co-create solutions for climate change through our Sustainability Innovation Challenge. The successful ideas and projects will feed into our client and partner work, scaling impact.
We’re seeing the rise of modern leaders who are stepping up and making their voices heard on everything from politics toclimate change.
Activism is inclusion
Business leaders have a responsibility to ensure their workplace culture is inclusive so that diverse teams can thrive. There’s clearly a link between diversity and inclusion and workplace activism. Debra put it very well, saying: “Diversity is a fact, but inclusion is an act.” Inclusion is about culture and most business leaders understand that more creativity and innovation is unlocked when we have diverse teams. But for those diverse teams to thrive a space needs to be created for robust conversations to happen. To be authentic, leaders should make time to listen to people from different backgrounds and under-represented groups, who have different lived experiences. It’s not enough to have diverse voices in the room, they need to be heard and their ideas acted upon.
Increasingly our clients are encountering this new dynamic of activism in the workplace and what that really means, authentically, for their business. It often starts with defining a clear purpose – a ‘North Star’ that everybody understands and is working towards so that the actions behind a speak-up culture galvanise around a common position. As a strategist, I’m excited about the opportunity to help clients think about the role of activism in becoming fit for the future. How the board makes space for all stakeholders to share their voice, not just shareholders, will be increasingly important because transformational change can begin small, but when nurtured it can create a groundswell – leading to profound, impactful change.
Activists are not only resilient, authentic advocates for what they believe in, but also brilliant listeners with an enquiring mind – hugely valuable inside any organisation.
