When to Respond to the Day's Hot-Button Issue

The Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action raises another question for every comms team: should our company (or clients) weigh-in?

We've been inundated with this tough decision over the past few years. The murder of George Floyd. The Uvalde school shooting. Roe v. Wade. Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

To help make a decision on whether or not to respond internally or externally, start with two things: a company's purpose/mission/values and its employees.

A clear company purpose/mission/values guide day-to-day decision-making. We’ve seen it work both ways. When they exist, hard decisions are a little easier to make. When they don't, there's a lot of internal grappling on what to do.

If DEI, for example, is core to how your company operates or what you do, offering a viewpoint may make sense. If DEI isn't even a remote focus, talking about it now may seem unauthentic, disingenuous, or worse, like you're capitalizing on the issue.

Employees are another great gauge. If an issue is important to employees, you'll know.

We saw colleagues noticeably impacted after George Floyd, Uvalde, Roe v. Wade, and Russia's invasion. There was chatter on Slack and during Zoom calls. People were asking questions.

In all those instances, company leadership stepped up to say something internally (and in one instance, publicly). And every time, employees responded thanking leaders for weighing-in. We knew we did the right thing by responding.

There are certainly other factors to consider when deciding, including the impact on other stakeholders like customers and investors. And, of course, figuring out what to say and where to say it either internally or externally.

But generally, whenever trying to decide on the day's hot-button issue, start by asking how the situation relates to the company purpose/mission/values and how it's impacting employees. Both can guide you.