The world wants companies to take stands. These are the 4 steps my team uses to make those decisions.

CMOs and Communications leaders have been thrust into conversations many of us never expected to be part of, deciding how their companies should engage on social issues and global events. In my first job in marketing, I remember being told to avoid discussing controversial topics at work, and to definitely never show emotion. But today, boundaries between work and the issues of our time have dissolved, and people — whether they’re employees, prospective employees, members, customers, or partners — expect companies to step up. And as the executive team member most often charged with brand, trust and reputation, we have to decide when and how our companies should engage. 

I thought it might be helpful to explain the playbook we’ve come up with at LinkedIn — but I would also love to hear how you and your teams are navigating this change.

For us, the first step is foundational and builds on top of our vision, our culture and our values. As a company, we’re very clear why we exist: our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. This is the reason we do anything and the first lens through which we look at any situation. Equally important is who we are (our culture) and how we make decisions (our values). Our CEO Ryan recently detailed our culture and values and highlighted a key tenant of our culture and values, trust. We believe trust is earned with consistency over time. 

That’s why Step 1 is “Start with Principles”

In order to maintain trust by acting consistently every time, we’ve codified our vision, culture and values into a set of principles and playbooks that help us answer when, who, what and where to act. And we apply these principles consistently enabling us to act rationally and not subjectively when emotions are very high, focusing where we can have the greatest impact.

Our principles are unique to us, based on our vision, culture and values, but the exercise of defining principles is something any company can and should do. We didn’t always have these principles in place. I’m not sure many did pre-2020. It was in the wake of the murder of George Floyd that we felt the strain of not having a a principles-driven approach to guide us to act consistently and with substance on social issues and global events. 

Step 2: Have a framework for when to speak and a team in charge of carrying it out

In a given week, our company can get asked to take a position on 10-15 different issues across the globe. While each one matters deeply, especially to those impacted who are reaching out, no company can take meaningful action on every issue. 

Simply making a statement with no ability or intent to invest in meaningful action doesn’t fly anymore, and puts our brands at risk. One of our principles requires there to be a way our platform and our company can make a meaningful difference with our actions.

We take a company position when an issue meets all of our principles.  In that case, we move to our global playbook which details who, what and where we act. Our global response team - led by our Comms team - is in charge of this playbook and empowered and accountable. Having a team and individuals who own coming together — and who has been down this road before — to apply the principles and playbooks has proven invaluable. 

Our playbook includes a set of rubrics that enable us to – as objectively as possible – classify issues by impact and alignment to the principles, and details the right next action. It also includes a process for ensuring the right set of functional, global and audience perspectives are engaged. Our playbook also outlines what we do when an issue doesn’t meet all the principles, recognizing every issue impacts at least some of our employees, members and customers.

Not taking a company position can be harder than taking one, especially when an issue directly affects us or those we love and respect. Our playbook covers that, too. In those cases, we focus on providing our employees support and resources so they can act and where appropriate, supporting nonprofits, partners or other organizations focused on a specific issue.  We want our employees to feel empowered and supported to put their time, energy and resources in the places most important to them.

Step 3: Make sure the people who speak are authentic and supported 

Our goal is to have the most authentic and relevant leader in front, one who has a genuine connection to the issue or event. In some cases, this is our CEO, but it’s often a regional leader closer to the situation, an ERG leader, or a leader of a specific function. 

We've learned that the fastest action is often not the most impactful, so once committed, we'll work with the right teams on how we can deliver the most meaningful actions. This might include making a product change or creating editorial content to raise awareness and drive conversations on a topic that our platform is uniquely positioned to lead. The work our teams have done to elevate conversations on mental health in the workplace is an example of the kinds of investments we can make to change norms and improve lives leveraging the asset we’ve built.

Step 4: Reevaluate and plan for the next issue 

As we move forward in a world that doesn't seem to be getting less complicated, we’ll continuously reevaluate how our principles and playbooks help us make consistent decisions that manifest our vision, culture and values with substance behind them. And we’re always considering the evolving context around us and listening to our employees, members and our stakeholders, making updates as appropriate. As we activated for Pride month this year, we made a conscious change to not “rainbow-wash” our logo on our site as we had in the past. What seemed like an important gesture a few years ago, now feels performative and we shifted our energy and resources to driving more meaningful action, like how we can create a more inclusive work environment for the LGBTQ+ community all year long. And I noticed many of our peers made a similar shift this year.

We know not everyone will agree with every decision we make. Our goal is for people to understand that we are following a principled process with consistency and integrity.

I don’t think there are any CMOs who believe we’re going back to the old, sheltered world of business. If the last few years have taught us anything, it is the necessity to remain humble, to learn and to adapt. Every day, we see leaders and companies stepping up in meaningful ways, so, to all of you guiding your organizations through these times, thank you.  As we all stand and act - in those places where we can make a meaningful difference in alignment with our values and our assets - together we’ll leave the world a better place than we found it.