"The business of America is business" -- Calvin Coolidge
Just like movie actors, who might have played in a film involving icebergs, feel that they can testify to Congress about global warming ... business executives too often assume that they can make pronouncements on public policy that play to their customer base. Bad idea! This is because, on political issues, their customers are not a monolith.
Yesterday, President Trump was forced to dissolve his Manufacturing Council since many of its members were resigning in objection to his press conference comments on the Charlottesville riots. Yes, the media narrative is that Trump was drawing a moral equivalence between the alt-left and the alt-right which disrespected the loss of Heather Heyer's life at the hands of a deranged neo-Nazi.
However, not all Americans think that the demonstrators from ANTIFAs, Black Lives Matter, etc. were guiltless, yet still believe that white nationalism is also evil. The CEOs of Merck, Intel and Under Armour first resigned from the president's council saying, in essence, that the president's remarks were an endorsement of the KKK and neo-Nazis. However, these and other outspoken CEOs may not understand that, in a like leap of illogic, their actions may appear to many of their customers as an endorsement of ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter.
The executives of American businesses should learn to tend to their knitting and not take public sides on partisan political issues. They can certainly have private opinions but they should keep them private. It can never help things to grandstand on such issues ... except possibly to massage their own egos. Yes, when required, stand up publicly for morality ... but only in crystal-clear cases ... not those in which a biased media may say are crystal clear.
Afterward: A case in point: Apple Funds Left-Wing Hate Group.
11 comments:
We can no longer stand quietly and be crushed. Hooray for these men and women who have taken a stand and voiced their concerns. Unlike the many congressmen who hide like cowards behind a shield of silence. George, your minority is shrinking further and further. And by the way, Merck stock shot up 1 percent yesterday. Coincidence. I think not.
If the stock market is a reliable indication of merit, then Trump is doing a bang-up job ...
We have a POTUS, a business executive, who makes pronouncements on public policy to appeal to his base. So it seems only fitting that other execs do likewise. They seem prudent to recuse themselves from the councils they joined. Their statements seem more related to their employees and stockholders than their customer base.
Only those on the polar extremes believe that renouncing one pole implies allegiance to the other pole. The vast majority, moderates, wish both extremes would move closer to the center.
Not placing customers first is a dangerous corporate strategy.
Ditto what Chillfin said. I salute those CEO's who opted not to be associated with a POTUS who every day adds to the pile of evidence that shows he not up to the job. Someone needs to take away his nuclear biscuit and his tweeter.
Trump is ineffective because he could not keep Guam from being nuked by North Korea ...?
Do you really believe Trump made Kim not nuke Guam? Like maybe Kim would have done it if Trump had said "Whatever... I have more important stuff to do." All the Kims knew that if they popped a cap on US soil, they would be obliterated. Did you ever see the movie "The mouse that roared"?
i'll bet you a nickel that if the stock market corrects severely Trump will not want to own that!
If Kim had nuked Guam, Trump would have been blamed. Ergo, why shouldn't he then be given the credit when they backed off? Or are we still being biased when it comes to this man?
If Kim had nuked Guam, Kim would have been blamed. Not Trump. No bias against Trump, just that he can't take credit for anything NK does because he said something.
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