{"id":8897,"date":"2026-07-24T09:44:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?p=8897"},"modified":"2026-07-17T15:46:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:46:43","slug":"safe-tepid-statements-about-important-issues-undermine-moral-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/safe-tepid-statements-about-important-issues-undermine-moral-credibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Safe, Tepid Statements about Important Issues Undermine Moral Credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nick Keppler<\/a><\/p>\n

Even in the midst of the current Trump-era blowback against sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and corporate social responsibility, CEOs and other senior leaders may feel pressure to comment on current events or issues that cause distress among their rank-and-file employees, customers, or other stakeholders. But a weak response or useless platitude can be worse than saying nothing, said Academy of Management Scholar Andre Havrylyshyn <\/a> of Binghamton University.<\/p>\n

Havrylyshyn is in the middle of a project surveying more than 50 people who are part of the Ukrainian diaspora about their experiences throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent ongoing war. When leaders of their organization made statements about the war, people of Ukrainian descent often found them \u201cdisgustingly safe,\u201d Havrylyshyn said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just these vague platitudes about violence always being wrong,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Many expressed concern for the Ukrainian people or heaped on praise on them for their strength and resiliency but did not condemn Russia\u2019s actions, using phrasing that seemed borrowed from a human-resources statement on a natural disaster. People with connections to Ukraine often found this disappointing, insulting, or enraging.<\/p>\n

Anyone in a community distressed by a tragedy or ongoing violent conflict would probably react similarly to a bland statement, Havrylyshyn said, but in the case of Ukraine, calling out Russia is low stakes in the U.S. Aside from several comments by President Trump and other politicians that many have interpreted as pro-Russian, very few Americans support President Vladimir Putin or his actions. For the most part, the issue is not divisive in North America\u2014which made the lack of moral clarity feel more harmful, Havrylyshyn said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat our participants were saying is, \u2018In America, how hard is that? How unpopular are you going to be if you say, \u2018Putin\u2019s a bad guy,\u2019 right? That\u2019s not hugely controversial, and you didn\u2019t even say that, so what was the point of publicly stating a milquetoast platitude that doesn\u2019t please anyone?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nick Keppler Even in the midst of the current Trump-era blowback against sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and corporate social responsibility, CEOs and other senior leaders may feel pressure to comment on current events or issues that cause distress among their rank-and-file employees, customers, or other stakeholders. But a weak response or useless platitude […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":8887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,26,72,19],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[840],"class_list":["post-8897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communicating","category-corporate-social-responsibility","category-ethics","category-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSafe, Tepid Statements about Important Issues Undermine Moral Credibility - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even in the midst of the current Trump-era blowback against sustainability, DEI, and CSR, senior leaders may feel pressure to comment on current events or issues that cause distress among their rank-and-file employees, customers, or other stakeholders. 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He has written extensively about psychology, healthcare, and public policy for The <em>New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Daily Beast, Vice, CityLab, Men\u2019s Health, Mental Floss<\/em>, <em>The Financial Times<\/em>, and other prominent publications (as well as a lot of obscure ones). He has also written podcast scripts. His journalistic heroes include Jon Ronson, Jon Krakauer, and Norah Vincent.\r\nBefore he went freelance, he was an editor at <em>The Houston Press<\/em> (which is now a scarcely staffed, online-only publication) and at <em>The Fairfield County Weekly<\/em> (which is defunct).\r\nIn addition to journalism, he has done a variety of writing, editing, and promotional development for businesses and universities, including the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, and individuals who needed help with writing projects."}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-600x400.jpg",600,400,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-350x450.jpg",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A-businessman-in-a-suit-holding-a-lamp-illustrating-idea-and-innovation-process-whiteboard-schematic-innovation-funnel_cropped-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Nick Keppler","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/nick-keppler\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/communicating\/\" rel=\"category tag\">COMMUNICATING<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/corporate-social-responsibility\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/ethics\/\" rel=\"category tag\">ETHICS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/leadership\/\" rel=\"category tag\">LEADERSHIP<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Nick Keppler Even in the midst of the current Trump-era blowback against sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and corporate social responsibility, CEOs and other senior leaders may feel pressure to comment on current events or issues that cause distress among their rank-and-file employees, customers, or other stakeholders. 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