The public blowback delivered to Disney CEO Bob Chapek for failing to speak out against Florida's proposed "Don't Say Gay" bill feels more like a changing of the guard to me than perhaps any other business story in the last five years.
For context, Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill is a bill that would prohibit teachers in the state from speaking about LGBT issues in the classroom with children in third grade and below. Bob Chapek was initially hesitant in taking a strong stance against this bill, claiming that Disney will instead continue to do its part by telling "diverse stories" through its content. Almost everyone called BS, and eventually Chapek had to take the embarrassing (but respectable) step of reverting on his previous statement and condemning the bill.
Here you have Disney, one of the most pristine brands in the entire world and one of the most powerful employers in Florida, pulling a trick out of a corporate strategy textbook published in the 1950s and failing miserably. We're no longer in an age where companies can just either pretend societal issues don't exist or skirt the issue by saying something non-committal like "I believe the best way for our company to bring about lasting change is through the inspiring content we produce." Producing diverse content is important, but it's not nearly enough. This younger generation of consumers and employees wants to definitively know a company is standing on the right side of history and is taking concrete action steps when possible to help a cause. And I think Bob Chapek underestimated this.
Corporations are nothing but groups of individuals. Individuals have values. Therefore, corporations have values. It's not rocket science, but until every company catches on to this, I won't be surprised when the next blunder like this rolls along.
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