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Take A Stand It's Good for Business

Guestpert

Joanna Dodd Massey Ph.D., MBA

Category

Business and Finance

With over 25 years of experience in the media industry at companies, such as Conde Nast, Lionsgate, CBS, Viacom, Discovery and Hasbro, Joanna Dodd Massey, Ph.D., MBA is a C-level communications executive and Board Director. She has managed brand reputation, corporate turnaround, crisis communications and culture transformation. Currently, Dr. Massey is a communications consultant, as well as Founder & CEO of The Marketing Communications Think Tank. She is a corporate speaker and trainer, as well as author of the books, "Communicating During a Crisis," and "Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations in One Workplace" (TVG Publishing, 2020).

Gen Z and Millennials have come to expect their favorite corporations to take daring social stands—and any potential divisiveness of the stand itself is usually trumped by a company’s willingness to be completely open about it.

 

Chick-fil-A and Nike are two brands whose stances have stoked controversy, albeit on opposite ends of the political spectrum—and yet both are clear favorites for Gen Z. In Piper Jaffray’s recent bi-annual survey of teen brand popularity, Nike is by far the most popular Gen Z clothing brand, while Chick-fil-A is the most popular restaurant. Of course, both companies produce high quality products that put them at the top of their classes, but their divisive stances on lightning rod issues have not adversely affected those standings among today’s teenagers. Why?

Because both companies are unflinchingly very clear about the philosophies that shape their positions. Chick-fil-A’s “pro-family” stances may be perceived by some as discriminatory against LGBTQ people, but the booming company spells out its Christian values very plainly in its corporate purpose statement, saying its mission is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.”

 

Nike, meanwhile, has seen sales actually increase since its embrace of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick—whose national anthem knee-taking protests against racial inequity, while considered unpatriotic by some, align with Nike's stated purpose “to inspire people to take action in their communities” and its commitment to “breaking down barriers.”

 

 

The lesson here is clear—in a world where corporate forthrightness has never been more essential, say what you stand for and back it up with action.

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