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No one questions the fact that restaurant employees, and owners as well, are suffering greatly due to the chaos COVID-19 has wrought over the past several months. But lost in the backbiting on Capitol Hill over whether we should pay a premium on unemployment benefits, or restore the “three-martini-lunch” deduction, is the fact that the restaurant industry could benefit from structural, financial and legal help during this crisis.

Meanwhile, essential workers including restaurant employees are facing threats of evictions and hunger.

To that end, last week a coalition of dozens of restaurant workers and leading restaurateurs in New York asked the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, to deploy his executive authority to push for changes that both benefit and reform the state’s restaurant industry.

A 'Safe and Just Reopening Plan'

The “Safe and Just Reopening Plan” looks out for restaurant owners and workers alike. For restaurateurs, the plan advocates for both tax relief for restaurants and the ability to charge a “safe reopening fee” if restaurants agree to certain health and safety protocols in the era of COVID-19.

For workers, such a plan would allow wait staff to tip out kitchen and other back-end staff and, most importantly, it eliminates the subminimum hourly wage that has long been the norm in most U.S. states.

The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 per hour. While actual wages vary from state to state, all workers who receive tips are paid less than the state's minimum wage for other workers. This subminimum wage is a holdover from a long begone era, and its critics say that the federally mandated low hourly wage is part and parcel of the systemic racism endemic across the U.S.

The restaurant industry relies on a relic dating back to slavery

According to historians who focus on the post-Civil War era, the subminimum wage has its origins in slavery. After Emancipation, there was plenty of low-wage labor available to businesses such as restaurants. The hospitality sector was quick to catch onto the idea that hiring Black people to work for tips would be a way to keep labor costs down. At the same time, growing trends in transatlantic travel introduced American travelers to a European custom that appeared sophisticated once U.S. citizens returned to their side of the pond. The problem with the sophisticated veneer of tipping was that what’s now considered etiquette has its origins in racism.

One company notorious for this practice during the later 19th century was the Pullman Company, which hired Black porters to cater to its well-heeled white customers who traveled by train across the U.S.

Fast forward decades later, and coalitions including One Fair Wage insist it’s time to rethink the way in which the restaurant industry pays employees.

The subminimum wage in New York State is higher than the U.S. federal rate ($11.80 versus $2.13), but in this day in age anyone knows the math doesn’t add up to allow for a minimal standard of living. “In New York, tipped workers, still subject to a subminimum wage by law, are more than twice as likely to live in poverty and rely on Medicaid compared to the rest of the state workforce,” says the authors of the group’s most recent report.

Racial inequality is rampant across the restaurant industry

One Fair Wage also says its data show that, nationally, white male tipped workers make about $5 an hour more than their Black women counterparts; in New York City, the discrepancy is $8 an hour. And the gaps aren’t just in wages: The group's research shows that restaurants were twice as likely to hire white workers over people of color. Further, 40 percent of white managers in the restaurant industry demonstrated a clear preference to hire white people over Black people and other people of color.

To date, 50 restaurant owners and at least 200 workers have joined One Fair Wage to support the Safe and Just Reopening plan. Joining them are celebrity chefs David Chang of Momofuku fame, as well as Tom Colicchio and Danny Meyer.

Chang in particular has been vocal about the ravages COVID-19 has heaped on restaurant workers, and emerged as a leader when it comes to showing how restaurants can operate safely during this era. Forced to close some of his restaurants, he co-launched a fund to help employees make ends meet, and he directed his human resources staff to pay healthcare premiums for laid-off employees as long as it was financially possible.

As of press time, the One Fair Wage-led directive is focused on New York, but it offers a template of how all U.S. restaurants and their employees can survive during a pandemic that so far appears to have no end in sight.

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U.S. tech companies have an outsize role in public health and safety, cultural norms, and community-held beliefs. Their effect stems not just from business relationships but from relationships with elected officials in Washington, in state capitals and city halls. Tech companies have ignored the public good and public health for too long. The Black Lives Matter movement is an opportunity to change this.

When Coca-Cola withdrew from apartheid South Africa in 1986, businesses scrambled to join the boycott. It took eight more years for apartheid to end, but Coca-Cola’s choices, like selling assets to Black South Africans, helped turn the tide. As the Black Lives Matter protests continue, there is a genuine, growing desire among businesses to dismantle racism in America.

This time must be different.

After years of catering to Donald Trump and changing the rules to allow his racist rhetoric to proliferate, Facebook might finally have to face the consequences of its actions as it is seeing a boycott from its key source of income: advertisers. Starbucks, Diageo, Unilever, Honda America, Levi Strauss and Patagonia are among those divesting. After years of scandals, Reddit banned two racist and hate speech filled subreddits. The people are speaking out on Black Lives Matter — leaders, employees, users and consumers alike.

Tech is poised to take vital steps in the fight for justice. Now is the time for this generation of techies to change the world for the better. Here’s how:

Assess company impact

Companies have different levels of impact depending on the nature of their business model and the products and services they sell. A company like Reddit influences societal beliefs and behaviors because it drives public conversation and speech through two defining features not widely available pre-internet: the ability for a person to broadcast their ideas and choose anonymity or semi-anonymity while broadcasting.

Studies have shown that crowds will often encourage conflict and violence and that verbal aggression increases in cases where there is no eye-contact. Reddit has made a product, intentionally or not, where verbal aggression and harassment is allowed, even encouraged, to escalate.

Reddit can have an immediate impact by banning hate speech, and to make long-term impact, it should redesign its product to ensure that hate speech and racism does not proliferate.

Change the narrative: Black Lives Matter provides such opportunity

Tech companies have a public platform — from the CEO’s Twitter account to the brand’s Instagram page. As activists educate the public and keep the spotlight on Black Lives Matter and criminal justice related issues, businesses can be valuable allies by amplifying and supporting them.

Social media is a crucial tool, as it requires few resources and is incredibly influential. By producing written content that addresses criminal justice reform and Black Lives Matter, companies can better consider how to reflect change in products and services to expand the scope of what's possible. The Responsible Business Initiative for Justice is an incredible resource for getting help on understanding and using new language.

Collaborate with like-minded partners

Tech companies have genuine power to hold governments, leaders and change-makers accountable. As governments look to recover from the economic devastation of COVID-19, tech companies can wield their influence by supporting social justice activism and participating in criminal justice reform. This is already happening: The CEOs of Netflix and Salesforce publicly supported California Proposition 62 to end the death penalty.

Tech can also advocate for criminal justice reform and ending police brutality with state and federal leadership, especially during discussions of city investment and collaboration. Bundling economic expansion with public and community health requirements can move city governments toward a more humane direction.

Build racial and gender equity in your workforce

Invest in a redesign of your employee experience, from recruitment to retention. Awaken, a female-led diversity consultancy, created a guide to Black-led Diversity, Equity and Inclusion teams that have the expertise to help companies transform their employee experience. For example, The Ready Set works closely with organizations to radically imagine together a redesign of policies, operations, and product so that the company can make big moves toward true equity and inclusion.

Another area to reconsider is the moratorium tech companies have on hiring people with a criminal record. After 400 years of incarcerating of Black people in the U.S., there is an opportunity to strike down that policy and move the workplace toward justice. One in three American adults have a criminal record, and a principal cause of re-offending is the lack of career opportunities. By providing a space for previously incarcerated employees to thrive, tech companies can demonstrate the power of including the perspectives of those most marginalized and right past wrongs.

Redesign products and services with the goal of public health

Police use Google’s location data to identify criminal suspects. Businesses like Google selling police their software to entrap citizens have begun to recognize that they must withdraw support for law enforcement and that stopping potential abuses of power by authorities should have been built into the product and its privacy features from day one.

It is daunting to get a company to shift its design process and management, but teams of designers are itching to tackle this challenge. Project Inkblot, a team of futurists and designers, partners with companies to build equitable products, services and content, using Design for Diversity, one example of a proprietary design methodology. Dr. Dede Tetsubayashi, a product-inclusion strategist and tech ethicist, who has worked across American, APAC and African markets, focuses on designing, in her words, “with not for” a diverse world. She also works with organizations and teams to codify this into their processes and products. And those are just two of the many designers and teams committed to inclusive and ethical product design.

In the years to come, each of us will look back on our actions in this moment and ask, “How did I fight racism and care for my Black neighbors, friends and family?” For the tech industry there is a lot of work to do, but employees and customers are already driving change. Imagine what can be done when people join each other to fight for liberation and justice for all.

Image credit: Bruce Emmerling/Pixabay

Over the past twenty-five years, toilet paper sales have increased every year, even during this global economic crisis. A major reason for this increase is the growing buying power in developing countries. As this product's sales are projected to “grow roughly on par with GDP,” and because developing countries’ GDPs are projected to increase 6.6 percent in 2021, developing countries are the drivers of new growth in this market.

Recycled toilet paper doesn’t mean flushing money, or trees, down the drain

Companies that can enter this market with innovative solutions to the biggest impediment in developing markets – price, will have the opportunity to create long term profits. Now is the perfect time for toilet paper manufacturers to move into developing markets, grow their brand names, and increase their profits through cost-efficient 100 percent recycled fiber toilet paper.

Over the past twenty-five years, toilet paper sales have grown by 3.7 percent worldwide and have never had a year where sales contracted. Developing countries are driving this increased demand as the compound annual growth rate for the product is greater than 2 percent in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia (excluding Japan).

As incomes grow, so does the household TP budget

This growth coincides with an increase in purchasing power in developing countries. By 2030, six of the top eight countries with the largest purchasing power in the world will be developing countries. However, individual buying power in developing countries is still lower than the U.S., meaning that a successful product in a developing country must be cost conscious.

Thus, 100 percent recycled fiber should be used to create an environmentally sustainable lower cost toilet paper. Since recycled fiber is less expensive than using virgin fiber, consumes three times less carbon, and because each unit displaces 1.7 units of wood otherwise used in chemical pulping, a 100 percent recycled fiber tissue paper product will decrease input costs and lower the overall price of this paper product.

A low-cost environmentally sustainable alternative would also be a tremendous advantage to a paper products manufacturer as it would improve its brand name and good will due to the growing consciousness and interest in buying environmentally sustainable products. In addition, the manufacturer would not be constrained by the shrinking supply of virgin fiber as demand for toilet paper increases.

Reinventing the roll is one way to avoid the regulators

Moreover, recycled fiber toilet paper can continue to be manufactured as environmental regulations become stricter. The EPA has recommended purchasing toilet paper containing at least 20 to 60 percent post=consumer recycled content and 20 to 100 percent total recovered fiber.

Creating a recycled fiber product would position any company ahead of its times, proactively changing before regulations force it to do so, and opening the doors to a large new customer base.

In India, the future of paper products is now

India is the perfect opportunity for the expansion of a low-cost, 100 percent recycled fiber toilet paper. India is the second most populous nation in the world with 1.3 billion people, but its use of toilet paper is minuscule, with the average person only using 6.4 pounds per year. However, the toilet paper market is primed to rapidly expand due to a variety of coalescing factors.

First, the average revenue coming from suchsales, per capita, is projected to increase from $4.46 in 2012 to $6.48 by 2023. Second, the growth rate of toilet paper in India, is projected to average around 4.6 percent from 2021-2023. Third, the development of a middle class in India, along with increased urbanization, is creating a new generation of consumers more open to using and purchasing toilet paper. In addition, with a 51 percent increase in toilet paper sales in India in March 2020, now is the time for the introduction of low-cost 100 percent recycled fiber products in India.

As many Indian consumers view hygiene as an important element in everyday life, but generally view this option as unhygienic compared to washing with water post-bathroom visit. Any 100 percent-recycled fiber toilet paper should be pushed with a strong marketing message regarding the importance of tissue for hygiene purposes. This message should relate the ability to prevent disease by linking the use of toilet paper to better hand hygiene and lower disease transmittal. This message, along with the growing demand of a developing middle-class, will allow for the successful introduction of low-cost recycled fiber tissue in India.

The growing demand for low-cost toilet paper in developing countries, combined with the global increase in hygiene awareness and demand for these products during the COVID-19 pandemic, makes the present moment the perfect time to market 100 percent recycled toilet paper into developing countries.

Image credit: Brian McGowan/Unsplash

As widely reported yesterday, Snapchat unveiled what it says is a bold plan for the November 2020 U.S. election: Mobilize young voters with the use of technology so their voices are heard this fall.

The announcement’s timing was hardly an accident, as it fell on the 55th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which many advocates say has been chipped away by both legislative and court actions over the past several years.

Snapchat, the online mobilizing tool

Snapchat said it would work with several organizations, including BallotReady, an online portal that aggregates information about political candidates from various websites. Snapchat will pair that information with technology from TurboVote, a platform that helps voters to register online while providing them with relevant voting information.

The initiative led by Snapchat and its partners follows on the recent dustup between the current president’s reelection campaign and TikTok users, who said (more like crowed, actually) they had a leading role turning his June rally in Tulsa into a bust and the object of many late-night commentators’ ridicule. It’s clear that given recent shifts in voter demographics, along with Snapchat’s claim that as many as 500,000 people who Snap turn 18 in any given month, this plan could have an some impact on November’s election.

“Snapchat has unparalleled reach into Gen Z and Millennial demographics,” wrote media reporter Sara Fischer for Axios. “The tools it's building are meant to guide those specific populations to more resources to help them register to vote and form a voting plan. Other platforms focusing on voter registration are doing so with a much wider user population in mind.”

The new holy grail for social impact is ensuring everyone qualified can cast a ballot

Democrats seeking an advantage over the current incumbent in the White House may not necessarily want to pin their hopes on Snapchat’s recent moves. A cursory review of the election coverage now found on Snapchat include a fair number of stories criticizing efforts such as the drive to boost absentee balloting this fall.

Nevertheless, as citizens become more jaded while they watch the current administration complain about mail-in voting campaigns, paired with critics’ accusations that the White House is trying to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service as part of this effort, such corporate activism from the likes of Snapchat could not only motivate voters, but also win the company greater loyalty.

This is hardly a new venture for Snapchat. The company also sent messages and even released a new filter for National Voter Registration Day in its quest to boost turnout for the 2018 midterm elections.

Snapchat’s work on this front complements the work done by other companies and business groups. Patagonia, for example, closed its doors so employees could vote freely without a hitch on Election Day in 2016. The outdoor gear company recently joined the likes of Unilever and the advocacy group Business For America to urge the U.S. Congress to act fast and spend the funds needed to secure voting for this November’s elections.

Meanwhile, as the 50th anniversary of Earth Day became one commemorated virtually, one of the event’s founders, Denis Hayes, urged citizens to channel their energies into voting this fall. Athletes such as LeBron James are now funding efforts to ensure no one is disfranchised as well.

Transformative change, or another PR move?

Whether these efforts make a difference this fall remains to be seen. History is certainly not on the side of motivating younger citizens to vote. After the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971, which lowered the voting age to 18, voter turnout surged the following year. But while half of the 11 million newly eligible voters cast ballots in 1972, it didn’t help Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, who was defeated by incumbent Richard Nixon in a massive landslide — and Nixon won the youth vote. Since that election, youth voting rates in the U.S. have been on a downward trajectory.

Granted, social media and online tools are a recent phenomenon, and the pandemic has forced many of us indoors, where we’ve turned into voracious consumers of online news and videos. And true, let’s remember that social media is also not a reflection of society — if Twitter had decided the Democratic primary, the choice would have been Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, not Joe Biden.

In any event, as Americans become more jaded about how government performs, the door opens widely for the likes of Snapchat that want to be a force for change, not just a medium to exchange photos and messages.

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Image credit: Leon Kaye

The future direction of Cadillac was revealed to the public this evening (August 6) with the unveiling of the company’s new luxury electric SUV via a webcast from General Motors’ Design Dome in Michigan.

The new vehicle, called the Lyriq, is the first electric vehicle (EV) that GM has shown to the public featuring the company’s next generation modular Ultium battery technology. The Ultium platform, co-developed with LG Chem, will underpin GM’s EV strategy across all its brands over the next decade.

It's not yet clear when the Lyriq will be available to purchase, but the reveal did provide a few extra details than were available when TriplePundit caught a glimpse of the pre-production prototype back in March during GM’s EV Week.

We saw in March that Cadillac is putting a lot of emphasis on design elements both inside and outside the vehicle. Cadillac aims to make the Lyriq enticing by creating a cabin which blends high-end wood and metal surfaces, along with plentiful backlighting, to create a futuristic and engaging ambiance. The centerpiece in the drivers’ sightline is a curved 33-inch display while drivers’ hands will find an abundance of touch control surfaces.

The exterior “sets the tone for Cadillac’s design language moving forward," GM says, and as with the interior, it makes use of dynamic lighting effects. As the driver approaches the car, the front-end lights up progressively, starting with the Cadillac crest and expanding out sequentially with an array of LEDs around the grille. There’s definitely plenty of bling with the Lyriq, but the effect appears tasteful rather than tacky.

When this car does go on sale, Cadillac will need to gain customers more effectively than other luxury brands have been able to achieve with their EV offerings.

So far, Tesla is the only EV maker to motivate people of means to part with their cash at a hoped-for scale. Conversely, Audi and Jaguar have both struggled to sell their EVs to luxury car buyers in sufficient volume, despite producing very compelling vehicles. Cadillac will need to buck this trend if it hopes to steer customers in an all-electric direction, and no doubt there’s a lot riding on the Lyriq. 

To this point, during the reveal, GM emphasized its belief that customer acceptance will derive from three key elements it seems confident it can meet: range, charging infrastructure and driving experience. 

Range sounds like it’s going to be of the order of 300 miles, and though the automaker didn’t provide an EPA official range, GM said this is the benchmark customers have indicated is necessary. The car will be capable of Level 1 and 2 AC fast charging as well as 150-kilowatt DC fast charging.

Charging infrastructure is something GM is committed to expand for all EV drivers as demonstrated by its partnership with EVgo to build 2,700 fast chargers over the next few years.

And as for driving experience, as well as loading up on compelling design features and creating a cosseting cabin, GM emphasized driving dynamics have been developed to impress, too. 50/50 fore and aft weight distribution and a low center of gravity afforded by the position of the Ultium battery pack, along with all-wheel drive, combine to deliver what GM says will be “a no excuses performance Cadillac.” Promised too are customizable settings to provide “infinitely tailorable” driving dynamics.

Drivers will also get GM’s hands-free Supercruise driver assist technology, which is capable of executing seamless highway lane changes.

A fun fact mentioned during the reveal was that the “iq” in Lyriq is a nod to intelligence, a recognition that Cadillac’s customers are a discerning bunch and have a greater acceptance of new technologies.

Lyriq seems on course to deliver in this regard, but will it be enough to achieve success where other luxury brands have so far struggled? Time will tell, but perhaps another key factor will be the price — a detail Cadillac didn’t reveal … at the reveal.

Image credit: Cadillac Media Relations

This pandemic will long be remembered not for the countless problems it has created, but for exposing countless flaws that have already existed. COVID-19 painfully ripped off the bandage and let it all see the light. We’re mired in this reality now, whether it’s what we’re seeing with our burdened public health systems, inequality, racial relations, or supply chains within the food sector and other industries.

Can’t wipe this one under the rug

The impact this pandemic has had on our supply chain reared its head again this week with Clorox announcing that its popular line of cleaning wipes products won’t appear on store shelves — that is, without any hiccups — until at some point in 2021.

That’s a disappointment to consumers who, during this spring, had listened to supply chain experts who said anything having to do with restocking cleaning supplies would get back to normal this month at the latest.

No matter how one may feel about using any cleaning wipes, period (fun fact: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended many cleaning spray products can work just fine, and in a pinch, you can make your own), this is far from a case in which Clorox did anything right or wrong. Six months ago, no one thought we’d be in the midst of such a crisis, though when it comes to long-term planning, some companies as different as Intel and Waffle House would beg to differ.

Global supply chains are the problem, not the solution

But what this pandemic has revealed is how global supply chains have often become the problem, not the solution, especially when a crisis akin to the one we’re experiencing now wreaks havoc. One problem many manufacturers of wipes face is that one of the key raw materials in cleaning wipes, polyester spunlace, is also critical for the manufacture of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as surgical masks and gowns.

Even if that coveted polyester spunlace can be found in other nations, other snags can hit the supply chain, including many companies’ reliance on China for making the plastic canisters used to package wipes.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing of paper products such as toilet paper, the shortage of which launched a million memes earlier this year, has largely stabilized in the U.S. But that’s because most companies in this space rely on pulp sourced from the Americas.

Bottom line: Do you want wipes or protective equipment?

Global supply chain risks have been exposed as open sores on the business landscape as healthcare systems and governments scramble to ensure they have adequate supplies of protective equipment. Countless heads of companies and government agencies have since questioned the conventional wisdom of sourcing such products from abroad — and the flooding that hit much of China last month added another reminder that it doesn’t take much to disrupt any company’s supply chain.

True, smart companies can pivot quickly during a time like this. They can swap canisters for soft-sided packaging. They can scramble to find different-sized containers. And sure, at a time when consumers aren’t so persnickety, fancy colored tabs and labels can be ditched – no one is going to fuss over the appearance of a roll of wipes.

But once we emerge from this pandemic and settle in for a long debrief over what went wrong and what could have been done to prepare us, there will be room on that list for how companies approach their supply chains. A more localized supply chain isn’t just about preparedness in the face of disaster: There are also opportunities to build local communities with good jobs while strengthening brand reputations. Trust is in short supply now, and it will be invaluable for companies in the long run. Becoming, procuring, and operating more locally will prove to be both a smart and remunerative strategy.

Image credit: Leon Kaye

U.S. corporate leaders remain out of step with the rest of the world when it comes to social purpose, according to a new survey on stakeholder capitalism from Diligent Institute. While 63 percent of global leaders strongly believe that a fundamental change in capitalism is underway, only 33 percent of U.S. leaders strongly agree with that view. The survey results indicate that U.S. corporate leaders may be too busy navigating the economic fallout of COVID-19 to jump feet first into a new kind of capitalism.

Accept and don’t hide from finding your company’s social purpose

“I think companies are still really trying to figure out how to get a path out of this, and how to get back on track in some way. When you're in that kind of crisis response mode, often things like ESG programs may take a back seat. I think there is going to be a lot of fits and starts. In the U.S. it’s not even a downward economic climb—a plummet off a cliff is probably a better way to phrase it,” Diligent Institute Executive Director Dottie Schindlinger told TriplePundit.

Understanding how business leaders are handling this complex balancing act and how it might be changing specific board behaviors was the aim of the survey, “Stakeholder Capitalism: Translating Corporate Purpose into Board Practice,” which included the views of 406 directors and corporate leaders. The idea of stakeholder capitalism is that for too long, companies have valued short-term gains for shareholders and investors at the expense of the long-term well-being of all stakeholders. When the influential Business Roundtable in the U.S. changed its course on this thinking last year with a statement abandoning strict shareholder primacy in favor of stakeholder interests, the tide had turned.

About that Business Roundtable statement…

Or so we thought. In fact, U.S. directors are significantly less likely to agree with the “Davos Manifesto” than leaders from other countries, the Diligent survey showed. The Davos Manifesto was launched at the 2020 World Economic Forum and which explicitly calls on companies to establish a clear societal purpose and serve the interests of stakeholders. While 71 percent of global leaders strongly agreed with the Davos Manifesto, only 61 percent of the U.S. respondents did so.

One big reason for the gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world, Schindlinger says, is the lack of regulatory pressure on U.S. companies to meet certain environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmarks. “In almost every other part of the world, companies are now having some regulatory pressure to disclose what they're doing around ESG while in the U.S. we're a bit behind.”

The glimmer of hope Schindlinger sees in the U.S. leaders’ divergence from their global peers is the degree to which they agreed with the statement: “Boards expect to discuss the impact of their decisions on non-shareholders with very high frequency in the three years following the COVID-19 outbreak.” In this regard, they were aligned with their peers, with 42 percent of directors surveyed saying they expected to discuss these topics at every meeting (compared to 26 percent in the past three years). And 73 percent expect to discuss it at least quarterly, compared to 47 percent over the past three years.

“That’s maybe one hopeful way of looking at it, which is that U.S. directors did tell us that expect to be talking much more about stakeholder interests in the coming three years than they have so far,” Schindlinger says.

Is there a future for stakeholder capitalism in the U.S.?

Schindlinger expects U.S. corporate leaders to eventually catch up with the rest of the world in embracing stakeholder capitalism, because the calls for action from investors and society are all around them. Skyrocketing interest from investors in companies that are ESG leaders hasn’t waned in the pandemic, as 3p recently reported. 

As she explains: “A lot of the pressure on companies in the U.S. is coming from the investor community. People who are kicking in money to these investment funds want to know which companies are strongest on ESG, because they tend to give them the greatest return. And then there’s the pressure from employees, customers, local communities. They are working to hold companies accountable, especially on things like racial justice and diversity, especially on things like protecting the workforce around COVID; we're seeing a lot of pressure in terms of protests and employee walkouts and activism around these issues.”

That pressure cooker will eventually burst, prompting a new look at how we define capitalism. “If there's this big groundswell of support from the grassroots, and there's pressure coming from all sides, change will happen, but it may just take longer. It's about focusing on systemic change as opposed to meeting specific regulatory requirements," Schindlinger says.

Image credit: ZSun Fu/Unsplash

As the Black Lives Matter movement begins to fade out of the mainstream media’s headlines, professional sports leagues and individual players are taking actions to ensure the issue of police violence against Blacks in America remains in the public eye throughout the summer. If the effort extends into the fall, it could have an impact on the 2020 election cycle.

Four years ago, near-silence on Black Lives Matter for professional sports

To understand the full meaning of today’s Black Lives Matter protests in major league sports, it is helpful to look back at the origins of the movement.

Much of the general public has encountered the Black Lives Matter movement for the first time this year, as waves of protest marches swept the nation after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of uniformed police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

However, the movement traces its origins back six years ago, to 2013. It was sparked by the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watchman in Florida who shot and killed a Black teenager named Trayvon Martin. Martin was unarmed and was returning home after purchasing snacks at a local store.

The case made national headlines but received little formal acknowledgement from professional sports leagues at the time.

To keep the issue alive, three self-described radical organizers — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi — created a decentralized activism project called #BlackLivesMatter. Over the years, the project coalesced into the organization Black Lives Matter, which coordinates with 14 chapters in the U.S. and supports the broader Black Lives Matter movement.

“Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folk's humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression,” the movement's leaders explain on its website.

NFL star Colin Kaepernick took those words to heart when he decided to kneel during the National Anthem four years ago in September of 2016. At previous games he had gained attention for sitting in protest of state-sanctioned oppression. He turned to kneeling in order to support the Black Lives Matter movement with a positive message that emphasizes progress and respect rather than divisiveness.

Kaepernick’s decision to kneel came about after conversations with a former Green Beret named Nate Boyer, who was initially angered by Kaepernick’s sit-downs. After meeting with Kaepernick, Boyer voiced support for efforts to raise awareness about persistent structural racism in the U.S. That includes various forms of policing by white individuals, whether they are professional law enforcement officers or not.

Professional sports are now getting the Black Lives Matter message

Clearly the NFL did not get the message back in 2016. For his efforts, Kaepernick was effectively blacklisted by all of professional football. Despite his widely acknowledged status as a star player, no team signed him in 2017, and he has sat out every season since then.

Other athletes and professional sports leagues, though, have picked up the ball.

Last week, Mother Jones took note of support for the Black Lives Matter movement by players and teams in the National Basketball Association.

“Since landing in Orlando as part of the NBA’s return to play, Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris has spoken to the media about precisely one thing: ‘Justice for Breonna Taylor,’ observed CNN reporter Dan Spinelli.

In contrast to the NFL’s treatment of Kaepernick, Harris has the support of his team and the NBA for his efforts to bring public attention to the death of Taylor, who was unarmed and shot in her bed at night during a no-knock police raid.

“The NBA plastered ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the game court in Walt Disney World in Orlando, where the professional basketball league is finishing its coronavirus-shortened season,” Spinelli wrote. “The NBA also approved 29 statements, such as ‘Say Their Names’ and ‘I Can’t Breathe,’ for players to wear on their jerseys in Orlando once official games begin next week.”

Major League Baseball teams also leveraged Opening Day publicity to draw attention to the Black Lives Matter movement. A new wave of activism included the participation of the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals, in addition to the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. Every player and coach on all four teams assembled and kneeled along their respective foul lines with long black ribbons prior to their games.

Writing for CNN, Paul P. Murphy reported additional actions for visual impact.

‘“BLM,’ accompanied by the MLB's logo, has been stamped onto the pitcher's mound of the World Series-defending Washington Nationals --and the Los Angeles Dodgers -- on Thursday night. That's the most prominently displayed ballpark location during a television broadcast,” he wrote.

Murphy also noted that BLM and “United for Change” patches were worn by the aforementioned baseball teams.

The Nationals and Yankees players wore BLM shirts for pre-game practice, as did players on the Dodgers. In addition, Murphy reported, Major League Baseball will lift a rule that prevented players from placing messages on their cleats. The new policy allows for social justice messages during the 2020 season.

Nike picks up where the NFL left off

Against this backdrop, the NFL appears to be tone deaf. The league has been among the many sports organizations and businesses to pledge financial support for social justice causes in the wake of this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, but it has refrained from making the kind of televised, visual statements that create a lasting impact on millions of fans.

Nike, on the other hand, has let no such opportunity pass by. The company had an opportunity to drop its contract with Kaepernick when it expired after the 2016 NFL season. Instead, Nike provided him with the pivotal role in the reboot of its famous “Just Do It” campaign, which launched in September 2018.

The Just Do It reboot highlighted Kaepernick’s social justice activism, which is an interesting juxtaposition considering that Nike was under contract to supply every NFL team with uniforms and other gear.

Nike is still under contract with the NFL, and now it is back with another campaign that puts the league on the spot.

Last week, Nike released a video launching its new "You Can't Stop Us" message, which deploys dramatic split-screen footage to underscore how athletes across the full range of human diversity share a common desire. As reported by CNN among others, the video was viewed more than 20 million times on Twitter within days, and 11 million times on YouTube.

“Many commenters applauded its themes of diversity, social justice and collectivism,” wrote Chancey Alcorn for CNN Business.

Coming in the run-up to the 2020 presidential elections, the message of collectivism and commonality is in stark contrast to the divisive rhetoric of the Trump administration. It also reflects a new wave of participation in Black Lives Matter protests by whites and other non-Black activists.

In that light, the new campaign is another pie in the face of NFL leadership. Nike released the Just Do It reboot just six months after inking a 10-year extension on its NFL contract, drawing renewed attention to the refusal of the league to allow Kaepernick to play.

With the You Can't Stop Us campaign, Nike brings a broader message that underscores how the NFL has fallen far behind the times. The video practically dares the league to come up with a more impactful way of reaching its fans with meaningful social justice messages and empowering its players to speak out.

The NFL just might be on its way to doing that. Last week, BET Sports listed 17 ways that major league sports are demonstrating their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Among several measures, NFL plans to replace The Star Spangled Banner with Lift Every Voice and Sing, often referred to as the “Black National Anthem,” during the first week of its 2020 season.

The season kicks off on September 10. As noted by BET reporter Alexis Reese, it will be interesting to see if players kneel during the pregame events, and if they do, how the NFL will react.

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Despite the data and the science, a small yet vocal minority still resists wearing a mask, whether the argument is over personal freedom, constitutional rights, their own personal health or the devil’s work. Delta Air Lines has a simple, pointed message for this crowd: Fine, but fly with someone else, and don't let the exit doors hit you on the way out.

The U.S. air carrier recently made headlines for its announcement this week that a late July flight was prepared to leave Detroit for Atlanta, but turned around, went back to the gate and kicked out two passengers that refused to wear masks during the flight. The names of the passengers were not disclosed, and the flight eventually reached Atlanta after a “short delay.”

Like its competitors, Delta has had to scramble as the novel coronavirus pandemic devastated the wider travel industry. The company has since updated its safety policy, which makes it clear where face masks are encouraged to be worn versus where they are actually required. As for the chic masks you may have seen in your Instagram stories, if they have a Darth Vader-like exhaust valve, you’re out of luck – they aren’t on Delta’s approved face coverings list.

Speaking of lists, Delta and its CEO, Ed Bastian, say the airline is serious about the mask requirement. To date, it has placed about 130 people who have refused to wear any kind of face covering onto the airline’s very own “no-fly” list. “Whether you’re on the airplane or any Delta property, including our offices and in a public setting, we are requiring makes to be worn,” Bastian told the Washington Post in a recent interview.

Additional measures include blocking middle seats and limiting flight capacity through at least the end of September. “Enhanced cleaning procedures,” including disinfectant electrostatic spraying, has also become the norm according to Delta.

In addition to its stance on wearing masks in the interest of public health, Delta has been outspoken about how airlines need to take on human trafficking and in-flight sexual assaults. Contrast that stand with some of its competitors, which have only made vague references to human rights — or, in the case of COVID-19, have dismissed blocking middle seats as a “PR strategy.”

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Photo: A view of Silicon Valley (as in the Santa Clara Valley) at night. Critics of the region's tech sector say the industry has long had a race and diversity problem.

Cloud computing giant Workday, which specializes in human capital and financial management software, is an incredible success story. Founded by two former PeopleSoft execs in the wake of Oracle’s hostile takeover of that company, in 15 years its market cap has soared to almost $43 billion.

Based in the Bay Area and boasting more than 12,000 employees globally, Workday’s spectacular growth has been matched by a strong reputation for being a welcoming place to work. The company has landed on various “best places to work” lists, including the popular top 100 rankings that regularly appear in Fortune.

Nevertheless, Workday acknowledges that the company, along with Silicon Valley at large, has plenty of work to do on the diversity front. Company co-founder and CEO Aneel Bhusri has long scored attention for his premise that companies need to show value beyond their share price and that they need to have a soul.

Bearing that soul, in turns out, involves taking a close look at the makeup of your staff.

In a Fortune podcast hosted earlier this week by Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt (the latter of whom writes one of the best newsletters on culture and diversity in corporate America), Bhusri was frank about Silicon Valley’s record of hiring a workforce that looks like America.

Workday itself says less than 3 percent of its workforce is Black. But to the company’s credit, Workday openly discloses this statistic — which is not the norm in Silicon Valley, much of which still notoriously lacks transparency despite the global technology sector’s role in helping to make the world a much more open place.

Bhursi acknowledged that part of the problem is committing to find the talent in the first place. “We have to do a better job recruiting from college, including HBCUs [historically black colleges and universities],” he said. “We need to branch out of the Bay Area and look at other locations.”

Ensuring those employees feel welcome and believe they have an opportunity to grow has also posed a challenge, Bhursi said. “There’s a sense if you’re a Black employee, you don’t get the same mentorship and sense of opportunities that a white employee or an Asian employee might get,” he  explained.  In his office, Bhursi has two employees mentoring him on the Black experience in the workplace day to day. Recruitment is not enough, and changing how you hire new employees won’t make a difference if they feel as if there is no chance for advancement long after they are on-boarded.

Finally, Bhursi had this to say about the work culture in Silicon Valley: “I think in the Bay Area, we all think the world is a meritocracy, and I think there's some truth to it. I don't think that's actually how the rest of the world works out,” he said. "You really do have to lean in . . . even in the Bay Area . . . to really create great career paths for everybody, not just for a few."

Diversity is a work in progress at Workday, and the company has its own approach, which it has trademarked as “VIBE” – value, inclusion, belonging and equity. That’s not only a tagline. Bhursi said the company measures its performance internally; as the timeless business cliché goes, you can’t measure what you don’t know. Critics can discuss whether Workday’s approach toward diversity and its run of success are linked by causation or correlation, but it’s hard to argue when the company lands on “best place to work” rankings, for many demographic groups, on Fortune and elsewhere.

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