[ad_1]
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a legendary business professor and associate dean at the Yale School of Management, has watched this split grow in recent years, and has heard it from CEOs he knows and works with. What the GOP cares about and what major businesses care about are, increasingly incompatible, he says.
“The political desire to use wedge issues to divide—which used to be fringe in the GOP—has become mainstream,” Sonnenfeld says. “That is 100 percent at variance with what the business community wants. And that is a million times more important to them than how many dollars of taxes are paid here or there.”
Over the weekend, Sonnenfeld hastily organized a Zoom conference with roughly 100 major corporate executives to talk through the voter restrictions being considered by state legislatures throughout the country, and about the way top Republicans like McConnell and Ted Cruz are responding with attacks on businesses that speak up in opposition.
Most of the CEOs on the call were Republicans; Sonnenfeld himself has been an informal adviser to Republican and Democratic presidents, but he has a longstanding relationship with McConnell, and spoke at the senator’s wedding to Elaine Chao. The CEOs “ranged from amused to outraged” in their reaction to the GOP attacks on businesses, says Sonnenfeld. “Their comments ranged from talk about ‘taxation without representation’ to the paradox of ‘cancel culture’: It’s OK if they speak out, but only as long as they stay on script?”
As the GOP tries to position itself as the home of “working-class values,” capturing loyalty with a steady campaign against the perceived excesses of progressive culture, it’s running afoul of a business community that can’t simply silo off “culture war” topics. In the eyes of major corporations, issues like voting rights, immigration and transgender-inclusive restrooms have economic impact, too. The millions of people alienated by those fights aren’t just their future customers, many of whom expect to support brands they believe in, they’re the companies’ employees.
“The bad news for Republicans is that they seem to have a 1920s view of who Big Business’ workforce is,” says Sonnenfeld. “That workforce is, at a minimum, highly diverse—and they get along. Trying to stir that up is misguided.”
The new Republican penchant for mocking corporations for being too socially aware—for instance, Sen. Ted Cruz’s Twitter threat to use the power of the state to harm Major League Baseball’s business, signing the message off with “go woke, go broke”—fundamentally misunderstands what matters to business in the 21st century, says Sonnenfeld. “Basically, business leaders believe that it’s in the interest of society to have social harmony. … Divisiveness in society is not in their interest, short term or long term.”
If the marriage between the Republican Party and the business community is on the rocks, what does that mean for politics? What do we misunderstand about what really matters to CEOs? And why aren’t business executives more afraid of boycott threats from the right?
For answers to all of that and more, POLITICO Magazine spoke with Sonnenfeld this week. A condensed transcript of that conversation follows, edited for length and clarity.
In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen major business come out in strong opposition to changes to election law in Georgia and other states. Over the weekend, you helped organize a phone call with around 100 corporate leaders to discuss it all. Tell me about that.
Yes. As anxiety was rising, I invited 120 CEOs on 48 hours’ notice. I thought that if I was lucky—on such short notice, and on a Saturday competing with the Masters [golf tournament]—we’d get maybe 10 to show up, thanks to my personal relationships. But 90 actual CEOs and business leaders showed up, and 120 people were on the call, including the various election and legal experts.
There were some who are interested in trying to find out what happened in Georgia. There was an explanation by the Georgia business leaders of how, in fact, they were working assiduously backstage [on the Republican bills to overhaul election laws in the state] and thought they’d taken out 95 percent of the bad stuff. It turned out they’d gotten 80 percent out; they didn’t realize that left in there was the [legislature having the ability to suspend] county officials who are elected to be in charge of voting. As was pointed out, the Carter Center in Atlanta certifies elections around the world as being democratic or undemocratic on just that basis; they have poll watchers around the world to prevent this kind of thing.
But Georgia was not the focus; that was just the warning shot. The volley over the bow is that we had business leaders from Texas saying, “You don’t know what bad is,” and looking at this spread [of voting rights restrictions] to 47 state legislatures. Michael Waldman, the head of the Brennan Center, gave an analysis of how bad [the proposals are] in these different states.
This November, for the first time in American history, [major business leaders] worked to guarantee millions of workers paid time off to vote. We’ve never had that before—and that’s a bypass around government, with its inability to make Election Day a national holiday. So they created their own workarounds. But on top of that, they were really proud that they managed to have—these particular companies—over a million workers with a full day off not only to vote, but to help fortify elderly voting-site volunteers who were at risk for Covid and [had to handle] the tidal wave of ballots. They did so much, and they were so proud that this was the largest, fairest, most secure election in U.S. history. And to have [the election] condemned [by Republicans] after the companies put so much into ensuring that, they’re pretty upset.
What was the reaction among CEOs to all the recent criticism from Republicans?
Well, they ranged from amused to outraged. Their comments ranged from talk about “taxation without representation” to the paradox of “cancel culture”: It’s OK if they speak out, but only as long as they stay on script?
I think the clarion call that actually got this ridiculously high participation rate on such short notice was, in fact, Senator Mitch McConnell’s paradoxical call to action for CEOs. [Last week, McConnell gave a speech in which he told corporations to “stay out of politics,” with the caveat that he did not mean that they should stop making campaign contributions.]
Despite your extraordinary range of Washington contacts, I bet I’m the only person you’ve interviewed that actually spoke at Mitch McConnell’s wedding. Only three of us spoke: It was the ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, the ambassador to Taiwan, me—and maybe Elaine [Chao’s] father. I have a nice relationship with Mitch. I admire him, and I’m glad he walked back his statement. It missed the mark.
[ad_2]
Source link
790288 928008dress shops that offer discounts are really common in our location and i always shop at them,. 208763
855386 624204I like this weblog so a lot, saved to my bookmarks . 860894
578775 443193Outstanding post, I feel blog owners really should larn a great deal from this website its rattling user friendly . 829622
519276 316947Some genuinely great information , Gladiola I discovered this. 14744
178527 224730hi, your web site is really great. I truly do appreciate your give great outcomes 910621
309443 448063Hey! Fine post! Please maintain us posted when I can see a follow up! 359327
314792 678121Wow, cool post. Id like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a excellent article but I procrastinate too a lot and never appear to get started. Thanks though. 502940
923804 222051This is a fantastic blog, might you be involved in doing an interview about just how you designed it? If so e-mail me! 475885
404238 60389Some truly exceptional articles on this internet web site , thankyou for contribution. 576500
567757 978109You ought to join in a contest for starters of the highest quality blogs online. I will recommend this page! 38412
724810 532813I dont agree with this particular write-up. However, I did researched in Google and Ive found out which you are correct and I had been thinking in the incorrect way. Continue producing quality material similar to this. 948027
811666 467644Beneficial information and excellent design you got here! I want to thank you for sharing your ideas and putting the time into the stuff you publish! Wonderful work! 517152
39962 736916Thrilled you desire sensible business online guidelines keep wearing starting tools suitable for the certain web-based business. cash 430129
713385 908461As soon as I detected this internet internet site I went on reddit to share some of the enjoy with them. 271753
864313 437173forty individuals that work with all of the services Oasis provides, and he can be a extremely busy man, he 915714
260270 667513You produced various excellent points there. I did a search on the subject and located most people will have exactly the same opinion along with your blog. 939022
96822 790378Some genuinely nice and useful information on this website , besides I believe the style contains great features. 196084
920143 298226Excellent post mate, maintain the great function, just shared this with ma friendz 636453
284615 83241Quite efficiently written story. It will be helpful to anybody who employess it, including me. Maintain up the excellent function – canr wait to read far more posts. 323593
692061 326321How considerably of an special article, maintain on posting far better half 397864
148910 860965Hello, Neat post. There is really a dilemma with your internet site in internet explorer, could test thisK IE nonetheless will be the marketplace leader and a large portion of individuals will leave out your excellent writing due to this difficulty. 792525
ดอกไม้งานศพ เป็นการแสดงความเสียใจ ช่วยเสริมบรรยากาศให้สมเกียรติ
การจัดดอกไม้งานศพ ควรคำนึงถึงความหมายของดอกไม้ เพราะดอกไม้แต่ละชนิด
เช่น ดอกมะลิ ที่สื่อถึงการขอพรให้วิญญาณได้ไปสู่สุขคติ
การจัดดอกไม้ในงานศพ สามารถเลือกได้หลากหลายแบบ การจัดเป็นพวงหรีด ก็สามารถช่วยสร้างบรรยากาศที่เหมาะสมได้
หากคุณกำลังเลือกดอกไม้งานศพ ควรเลือกผู้ที่มีความเชี่ยวชาญในการจัดดอกไม้งานศพ เพื่อให้ได้ดอกไม้ที่เหมาะสมกับบรรยากาศของงาน
ดอกไม้สำหรับงานศพ เป็นสัญลักษณ์ของการไว้อาลัย และยังช่วยเพิ่มความสง่างามให้กับงาน
การจัดดอกไม้งานศพ ควรเลือกดอกไม้ที่มีความหมายในทางดี
เพราะดอกไม้แต่ละชนิดมีสัญลักษณ์ที่แตกต่างกัน เช่น ดอกคาร์เนชั่น
ที่สื่อถึงการขอพรให้วิญญาณได้ไปสู่สุขคติ
ในการจัดดอกไม้งานศพ สามารถเลือกได้หลากหลายแบบ การจัดเป็นพวงหรีด ก็สามารถช่วยสร้างบรรยากาศที่เหมาะสมได้
หากคุณกำลังมองหาดอกไม้งานศพ ควรเลือกร้านที่มีบริการจัดดอกไม้อย่างมืออาชีพ เพื่อให้ได้ดอกไม้ที่สวยงามและมีความหมาย
การเลือกช่อดอกไม้ เป็นสิ่งที่สามารถเพิ่มความพิเศษให้กับทุกโอกาส ไม่ว่าจะเป็นงานแต่งงาน ช่อดอกไม้ที่ออกแบบมาเฉพาะ สามารถสร้างความประทับใจให้กับผู้รับ
หากคุณกำลังมองหาช่อดอกไม้ที่สวยงาม แนะนำให้เลือกช่อดอกไม้จากร้านที่มีบริการที่ดีและมีดอกไม้สดใหม่!
549546 26790There is visibly a bunch to know about this. I believe you produced various very good points in functions also. 877047
713807 367461You got a very fantastic website, Glad I observed it by means of yahoo. 214507
941463 121868Music began playing anytime I opened this site, so irritating! 834546