Ethical Leadership

Companies seeking to do right by their stakeholders will have their mettle tested in the weeks and months to come. Let’s start with wages…

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade – a decision that will demand critical leadership not only from the public sector, but from the private sector as well. To understand how the landscape will shift for the American workforce, we will be tracking how America’s largest companies respond to the ruling.

Investing in local communities, especially those that need it the most, is one area where the private sector can have a huge positive impact during a downturn.

An eye-popping 87% of Americans across all political, age, geographic, gender, and racial lines agree that the growing gap between CEO pay and median worker pay is a problem in this country today.

The leaked Supreme Court majority opinion draft on potentially overturning Roe v. Wade lit a fire under companies to be clear where they stand on the issue of reproductive rights.

This past week saw three high-profile examples of why it’s so important for corporate leaders to understand what makes their stakeholders tick when making decisions involving complex societal issues. 

Merck & Co, Synchrony Financial, and Etsy rise above their peers when it comes to supporting women in their workforces.

How are companies stepping up to support the Ukraine? Here’s our running tally:

What does it mean for companies to support countries committed to democracy? What is the role of corporations in upholding the core tenets of a healthy free market society and the rule of law?

In a tight labor market, investors, companies, and policy makers are turning their attention to the “S” in ESG.

Each year’s rankings has its own unique context, and right now my sense is that trust and accountability are the watchwords.

JUST Capital checked in with Americans on how well they think companies are living up to the BRT’s principles. Explore our detailed findings here.

The majority of Americans believe in capitalism but want to see it improved, especially through treating workers with respect and equal opportunity.

Companies are starting to hold each other accountable for their actions, and many of the underlying issues have distinctly bipartisan support. Take a look at two important corporate alliances coming out this week.

For corporations, bold action on climate is already a must. Net-zero commitments – essentially, a promise to balance GHGs emitted with GHGs removed and/or avoided – are everywhere.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue to track significant racial equity announcements and actions from companies not captured in the first iteration of our Tracker here.

“The problems that are tearing at the fabric of American society require all of us – government, business and civic society – to work together with a common purpose.”

The EEO-1 form has rapidly become the gold standard of disclosure, and the numbers and metrics within it reveal a picture of the state of gender and racial diversity at America’s largest companies

Do companies that act ethically out perform their peers that lag behind?

2020 was a year that exposed a simple truth – that society’s shift to stakeholder capitalism is now an urgent necessity.

With Election Day less than a week away, and concerns of a contested election mounting, we expanded our recent polling asking Americans what role they think companies and corporate leaders should play in upholding and protecting democracy. 

With Election Day less than a week away, we built upon our recent polling and asked Americans what role they think companies and corporate leaders should play in upholding and protecting democracy.

Arguments in support of shareholder primacy and against stakeholder capitalism are out of sync with the voice of the American public, institutional investors, shareholders, and corporations themselves. 

We analyze how the BRT purpose statement signatories measure up to Americans’ expectations, and compare to other Russell 1000 companies.

Timed with the one-year anniversary of the Business Roundtable’s landmark redefinition of corporate purpose, we asked the public how they believe companies are doing in shifting from a myopic focus on shareholders to better serving the needs of all stakeholders.