During the presidential election, Jeffrey Sonnerfeld, a leadership expert and professor at the Yale School of Management, met with 40 top CEOs on three separate occasions to discuss the attempts to overturn election results, according to Yale Insights, a publication from Yale's management school.
The CEOs said they felt responsible for responding to long-term threats to democracy, and many froze donations to lawmakers who voted to reject the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
According to Mr. Sonnerfeld, CEOs recognize their influence and have found their political voice. He said data shows business leaders are perceived as more trustworthy than journalists, academics, clergy and elected officials.
"They realize they don't want to be funding societal dysfunction and decisiveness," he said. "They're going to be far more circumspect going forward, and taking a look at how corporate dollars are spent."
Mr. Sonnerfeld said businesses are increasingly playing active political roles by giving employees paid time off to vote in the election. Mainstream companies like AT&T, UPS and Walmart took active roles against legislation known as "bathroom bills," which sought to affect access to gender-segregated public facilities based on the individual's gender assigned at birth.
"[Business leaders] understand that it is absolutely core to understand the societal context — understanding that, like their voice in financial markets and labor markets and product markets, they have to be engaged in this space," Mr. Sonnerfeld said. "They can’t just rely on bothsidesism or 'a plague on all their houses.' They have to have a political voice."
More articles on leadership and management:
How hospitals are preparing for future public health crises
New Jersey Hospital Association taps former state official as first COO
Florida governor could fill hospital district board seat left vacant by resignation