Potential “Democracy Flashpoints” & Implications for Business Leaders

Daniella Ballou-Aares and Lauren Caplan

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On September 21, 2023, we spoke with Daniella Ballou-Aares and Lauren Caplan of the Leadership Now Project to explore “Navigating Democracy Flashpoints: How Business Leaders & Boards Can Reduce Risk & Strengthen Civic Trust by Preparing for a Principled Response.”

With the 2024 campaigning underway and distrust of American civic institutions at an all-time high, business leaders and boards can expect to confront multiple “democracy flashpoints” in the coming months. What scenarios should they be preparing for? Where might they need to take a stand, change course or be ready to defend their actions under fire? What can they do to prepare now?

In this module, we explore:

• What do you view as the most likely “democracy flashpoints” or scenarios in the coming 6-9 months? What specific events or headlines might we see? What data supports those as real possibilities?
• What does this mean for business leaders and boards? First, will it really affect them? And second, isn’t the best strategy from a business perspective just to wait it out?

The Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce (CPRT)’s Expert Dialogues are in-depth, recorded conversations with academic experts, stakeholder advocates and business practitioners to provide our members and other CPR champions with the expertise and context they need to develop principled, proactive CPR strategies. We invite those interested in a constructive, non-partisan, principles-based discussion.

Daniella Ballou-Aares is the Founder and CEO of the Leadership Now Project, a national membership organization of business and thought leaders committed to fixing American democracy. Daniella is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Fast Company, POLITICO, and the World Economic Forum. Lauren Caplan is the Managing Director & Head of Democracy-Aligned Investing at the Leadership Now Project, focusing on responsible investing and the intersection of corporate social responsibility and capital markets. Lauren has worked on cross-sector solutions to the most pressing challenges for the past 20 years, including a recent role as Associate General Counsel in the Yale Investments Office.

The full transcript for this module is available here. 

Keywords:

#CorporatePoliticalResponsibility #ESG #Democracy #CivicEngagement #CPR_Responsibility