Last month, as President Biden’s European trip took center stage, his administration made a welcome but little-noticed commitment that the U.S. government will update what’s known as the National Action Plan (NAP) on responsible business conduct. Corporations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken observed, “have the capacity to help shape society and the environment, raising local wages, […]
Last month, our country marked the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s brutal murder. It has been a year of intense debate, massive public demonstrations, and considerable introspection about racial injustice and inequality, focused principally on the need to reform policing and the criminal justice system more broadly. Former President Obama captured both the continued frustrations […]
In its first 100 days, the Biden administration renewed its focus on human rights. After years of internal debate, the United States declared Turkish attacks in Armenia a century ago a genocide. Senior officials also strongly condemned the military coup in Myanmar and denounced Russian President Putin’s persecution of imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The Biden administration released an intelligence report linking […]
As Republican politicians in states across the country move to restrict voting rights, corporate leaders are faced with an uncomfortable choice. They must decide whether to publicly challenge these cynical measures, which are predicated on the patently false assertion that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud, or remain on the sidelines in an attempt to […]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls itself the “world’s largest business organization.” Founded in 1912 at the behest of President William Howard Taft, the Chamber has spent a century promoting the perspective of American business on issues like taxes, regulation, and trade policy. It has doled out more than $1.6 billion to lobby the federal government since 1998, more […]
Last month, McKinsey’s 650 global partners turned down CEO Kevin Sneader’s bid for a second three-year term at the helm. The rejection marked the first time in 40 years the storied consulting firm has opted not to offer its leader a second term. The vote came as McKinsey struggles to reconcile its lucrative business model with a […]
Ten years ago, Hosni Mubarak was forced to relinquish power in Egypt after protests brought millions to the streets of Cairo and Tahrir Square. This popular uprising was the epicenter of what many called the Arab Spring. Like its predecessor, the 1968 “Prague Spring,” the promise of swift liberalization of a repressive system eventually went unfulfilled. A decade […]
President Biden made a passionate appeal for unity in his inaugural address Wednesday, saying, “My whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause.” Those words reflect Biden’s character and temperament. He seeks common ground, not confrontation. This is a welcome […]
Few will regret the passing of 2020, a year headlined by a global health crisis, profound economic distress, and high-profile examples of racial inequality. From my vantage point, working on human rights in a business school, the past year has underscored the need for global business leaders and government officials to take a more deliberate, […]
Since last week’s election was called in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, social media venues have been flooded with allegations that massive vote fraud altered the outcome. President Donald Trump clings to this view, which is objectively false, and polls taken in the last few days suggest that 70 percent of Republicans now also hold this view. […]
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