The Changing Societal Role Of The Organization

In one of the passages of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Dante says:

"Master, what is it that I hear? Who are

those people so defeated by their pain?"

And he to me: "This miserable way

is taken by the sorry souls of those

who lived without disgrace and without praise.”

It is said that one of John F. Kennedy’s favorite quotations was a paraphrase of Dante’s poem and goes like this: “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”

It is evident that organizations, particularly private companies, are taking a more serious stance about the issues that impact society in general. For them, the time to remain neutral in the face of the urgent matters that affect us all has passed.

Whether it is climate change, racism and discrimination, systematic injustices, police brutality, a women’s right to choose, LGBTQ+ rights, gun violence or any of the other many societal issues that affect us all, corporations are increasingly commingling with human rights institutions and individuals to raise their voices in favor of doing what’s right and moral.

I celebrate that organizations are joining the causes of humanity and that they are ditching the ridiculous idea that they must remain neutral, especially in times of moral crisis and adversity.

Ben & Jerry recently released a Pecan Resist ice cream. This not only in defiance to the recent actions of the current administration in the White House, but more generally taking a stance for the issues of those opposing and resisting the policies put forward by the government.

When the tragedy of the mass shooting in Parkland’s Stoneman Douglas High School occurred two years ago, a group of very young activists raised their voices in favor of gun control. But not only that, this time, as opposed to the reaction in the aftermath of many of previous mass shootings in America, these activists (most of them students from Parkland) demanded accountability and brought the spotlight to private companies that were sponsoring pro-gun organizations.

Whether because of this “unwanted” social attention and its implications or because they felt compelled to, these private companies took a harder stance in the conversation and withdrew their support for pro-gun organizations, while becoming more active in demanding gun control.

Ben & Jerry and the many private companies that took a stance after Parkland’s mass shooting are not isolated cases.

Twitter took a historic stance in fact-checking and providing critical annotations to not only the twitter accounts from every ordinary citizen like you or me, but from the President of the United States himself. This step has already created incredible amount of noise from Trump and his administration. They claim that it is censorship. But it is not. It is a private company telling their stakeholders: we will let you know when misleading and/or unfactual information, or calls to violence are posted. You decide whether you want to read that kind of tweet or not.

Hundreds of companies have pledged to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the effect of climate change. Many of them committed to continue to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement even when Trump’s administration withdrew the United States from it.

In all areas of life companies are becoming more immerse in the fabric of society and all the relationships that occur within. In my view, this is powerful, warranted and a reason to celebrate. Each of those companies not only employs thousands of people, but they impact the lives of millions. Their voice is respected and can amplify the message to inspire people to do what's right.

I refuse to think that this change is just a Public Relations stunt, similar to what became of the old idea of corporate social responsibility after it was twisted and bent in the wrong direction.

Corporations are taking a more serious stance in social matters because they finally understood that in an interconnected, globalized, interdependent world, it is simply impossible to separate one organization’s wrongdoing from the catastrophic consequences it could have for the whole, including the stakeholders of such organization. The flipside is also true. The good deeds of an organization will have a cascading effect impacting everything around them. We may not see such effect right away, but it is bound to happen.

Right now hundreds of private corporations are on the verge of participating in the societal, human, economic and political conversations that pertain to them, their future and their stakeholders. The best thing we can do is to continue pushing for more accountability from our business leaders, providing support once an organization publicly takes a stance in defense of what’s morally right, increasing the scrutiny over the way they operate, among other things.

We live in times when the problems and challenges we are dealing with are increasingly complex and global. Moreover, their complexity seems to be growing at an ever more difficult to catch pace. Therefore, it is mandatory for humanity and its institutions to get together, just like a family would do, and, globally, find workable, effective, environmentally friendly, societally acceptable, solutions. This can’t be done solely by the government (even a good one…), or by individuals or by a single organization. We need more and more of everyone, together. And it is not just necessary, but urgent.

That’s why I celebrate that private organizations are changing their role in societal matters and getting involved.

We need them, just as they need us. And I encourage them to continue to take a stance for the things that matter. I encourage them to not be neutral in times of moral crisis. I encourage them to do what's right, even if a handful of people may not like it. At the end, we will know that they will have done the right thing and we will praise them for their courage and bravery.

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About the Enrique Rubio:

Enrique is a speaker, futurist, HR and Tech expert, and founder of the global learning community Hacking HR. Enrique came to the United States from Venezuela as a Fulbright Scholar. Prior to coming to the US, Enrique was the CEO at Management Consultants, a firmed specialized in Human Resources and Corporate Social Responsibility in Venezuela. Before Management Consultants, Enrique worked in the telecommunications sector as a Senior Project Engineer for Telefonica. His last job post was as an advisor of the CHRO at the Inter-American Development Bank. Enrique is also the cofounder of Cotopaxi, an technology-based recruitment platform focused on Latin America and the Caribbean. Enrique is a guest author in several blogs about innovation, management and human resources. He has over twenty years of experience. Enrique holds an Electronic Engineering from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela and an Executive Master’s in Public Administration from Maxwell School in Syracuse, New York. Enrique also holds a Design Thinking certification from Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, he is certified Scrum Master and PMP.