Corporate Ethos by Mark Stone

August 2023. This weekend I listened to an interview with Samuel Freedman about his new book, "Into the Bright Sunshine", covering the young Hubert Humphrey and his seminal speech at the 1948 Democratic Convention. That era makes me think of my dad, a passionate progressive, a professor in political science, and a teenager at the time of Humphrey's speech.

As I left academia and moved into the corporate world, my dad looked to me as his translator to explain the ethos of Corporate America. My dad was ever hopeful that public policy from the federal government would fulfill Humprhey's vision. With the never-ending racist cycle of which George Floyd's murder was a prominent part, and with a throwback to fear-based politics fostered by the 45th president, my dad felt his hopes were dashed.

I have remained optimistic. I have watched Corporate America tire of the gridlock in Washington and move forward on their own. Every company I have worked for in the last decade has:

  • Done more with their practices and technologies to be eco-friendly;
  • Improved diversity in hiring, and strengthened D&I policies;
  • Expanded parental leave;
  • Made Juneteenth a company holiday before it was a federal holiday.

Companies do this out of pragmatism, knowing that the climate crisis has become an existential crisis; knowing that a more diverse workforce is a more productive and innovative workforce; knowing that more family-friendly policies help attract and retain talent.

We do this imperfectly. Yet Corporate America's dominant spirit is one of enlightened self interest, and that enlightenment will enable us to "walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights."

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