DAVOS — Business leaders cannot afford to be cowed by political backlash to their efforts to address critical societal issues, said Richard Edelman as his firm launched its 23rd Trust Barometer in Davos this morning.
“This is smart business, not woke delusion,” said Edelman while introducing the findings, which conclude that business is more trusted than governments, NGOs and the media.
Edelman said that business leaders should not back off from their efforts to tackle such issues as climate change and economic inequality, pointing to Disney’s experience when it opposed Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which brought the company into conflict with Governor Ron DeSantis.
“Don’t back off because of Disney and Governor DeSantis,” he said. Business has to lead in areas of comparative advantage. We have to restore economic optimism. We have to get hope back into the system. We have to help repair the societal fabric, we have to stand…
