"Issuers Pushed to Stand Up on Social Issues" from Intelligize addresses the increasing pressure on public company management to speak out or take a public stance on social issues with reference to recent developments on social media hate speech, diversity-linked executive pay (see, e.g., Prudential proxy statement page 45 | Uber proxy statement page 54), and racial inequality. Pressure sources include civil rights groups, investors (e.g., BlackRock, whom Intelligize describes as a "shadow regulator"), employees, and others who lack regulatory authority but may be equally influential.
See our recent reports: "CEO Activism: How About Now?", "Communications/Marketing Execs Favor CEO Activism," and "Tech Professionals Favor, Expect CEOs to Speak Out on Controversial Social Issues"; numerous sample public statements on racial equality and justice on our Racial Equality & Diversity page, and additional CEO activism resources on our Risk Management & Oversight page. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!