Best practices for companies considering whether to speak out on political issues

Current events have sparked a significant change in private businesses’ political behavior with companies and their executives shifting from nonpartisan observers to leaders taking on political and social causes. While the trend has been slowly building for several years, public pressure to engage in the current battles over voting-related legislation in states across the country has forced nearly every public company to assess whether it will speak out, and an unprecedented number have chosen to engage. The decision to get involved will be different from company to company and issue to issue, but here’s a road map for you and your executives to follow when figuring out whether and how to engage in political issues.

Establish framework for deciding when to speak out

While companies may face pressure from some stakeholders to speak out on every issue of the day, that level of engagement would likely be neither feasible nor productive. Instead, most businesses will need to choose when and where to contribute their voice to a political debate.

Companies should develop a principles-based approach to deciding when to speak that’s aligned with their core values. Having a principles-based decision-making framework allows you to communicate to your stakeholders why you are electing to speak out on a particular issue and, maybe more important, why you may be choosing not to address other matters. Factors you may assess in deciding whether (and how) to speak out on political issues include but aren’t limited to the following: