Is the Outpouring on George Floyd from the C-Suite Greater than Ever?

I read this piece from Alan Murray at Fortune. I think he might be right and wrong. Yes, the CEO and corporate response over George Floyd has been widespread and furious compared to a decade ago when Rodney King was beaten but the big difference is the reach and impact that social media has had on the world and how we behave and think. I have no doubt that if social media were around back in 1991, the King beating would have propelled media attention sky high. I agree, however, that it might not have impacted the C-Suite in the way we are seeing it now. In the 90s, the business of business was business. But the role that business plays in society today has dramatically changed. In 2015, the two intersected when CEOs spoke out about laws against same sex marriage in several states and media/social media attention on how CEOs were responding began to grow.

Although it feels like something new is afoot, CEOs and companies speaking out about social justice is not all that new. CEO activism has been steady since 2015 and has grabbed headlines when it comes to immigration bans, climate change, school shootings, border issues, etc. The media attention usually lasts about two to three weeks and then the world moves on. When reading this article in the New York Times this past week on how corporate America failed Black America, you really have to wonder if all those words, headlines and pledges to combat social injustice and racism made the slightest difference.

“Corporate America has failed black America,” said Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation and a member of the board of Pepsi, and who is black. “Even after a generation of Ivy League educations and extraordinary talented African-Americans going into corporate America, we seem to have hit a wall. The playbook is: Issue a statement, get a group of African-American leaders on a conference call, apologize and have your corporate foundation make a contribution to the N.A.A.C.P. and the Urban League. That’s not going to work in this crisis.”

We will see if the greater attention that media has brought since the murder of George Floyd will change corporate America and is an indication of a tipping point. I cannot make predictions on whether that will happen or not.