{"id":7220,"date":"2025-07-18T20:01:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=7220"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:36:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T19:36:33","slug":"more-conservative-ceos-are-speaking-out-about-social-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/more-conservative-ceos-are-speaking-out-about-social-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"More Conservative CEOs Are Speaking out about Social Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Since the start of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, some CEOs and companies that once advocated for social or political issues have gotten quiet or even done an about-face. On the other hand, pro-MAGA CEOs have been speaking out about such issues more frequently.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Donald Hambrick<\/a> of Pennsylvania State University, who cowrote an article in Academy of Management Review<\/em><\/a> with coauthor Adam Wowak of the University of Notre Dame on this topic, noted that \u201cWhen Elon Musk rails against DEI and rants about the \u2018woke mind virus\u2019 on X, that\u2019s a form of activism\u2014he\u2019s speaking out publicly. Now, it turns out he\u2019s doing other things as well, but that\u2019s a form of highly public speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a platform, and there\u2019s been quite a lot of blowback\u2014there\u2019s been quite a swing in the pendulum, and it\u2019ll be interesting to see whether it swings back in the other direction at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the next two or three years, it might take some form of crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Musk is the epitome of an outspoken chief executive, some CEOs are remaining quiet on social, political, and economic issues, hoping to avoid controversy.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, many CEOs are being super quiet and cautious, partly out of uncertainty about where the Trump regime is going to take us and understandable concerns about various forms of retaliation if they speak out,\u201d Hambrick said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be interesting to see what happens over the next two or three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think CEO activism is a dinosaur\u2014I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a dead phenomenon,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it could come back in a more balanced way where there are more even-handed amounts of conservative activism and liberal activism by different CEOs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith or without the substance of action backing up CEOs\u2019 activism, CSR policies are changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

BlackRock\u2019s ESG messaging<\/h4>\n

The 2025 annual letter by Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, the world\u2019s largest asset manager whose assets under management exceed $11.5 trillion, did not include the terms ESG, sustainability, climate change, stakeholder capitalism, or DEI, marking a significant departure from his earlier letters to shareholders that covered those themes. In the face of conservative backlash that got a lot of media coverage starting in 2023, Fink distanced himself from ESG, saying the term had become too politicized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve dialed back; Larry Fink is not as assertive about ESG\u2014he is no longer using the term ESG, and that whole camp is trying to move away from the [acronym] just because it is a loaded term,\u201d Hambrick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though the term ESG has fallen out of favor, I think that ESG, and especially the E part of ESG, is a bit more alive than, say, DEI is today,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that environmental part is still going on in corporate America, whereas DEI is quickly being dismantled.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

A sample of Hambrick\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/em><\/p>\n