Angry customers knocking down store displays of LGBTQ+ merchandise and threatening sales associates. Conservative musicians posting videos of beer cans sprayed with machine gun bullets, and boycotts resulting in slumping sales and share prices. A major corporation locked in a feud with a Republican governor. Companies are now facing more perils than ever when getting involved in issues deemed controversial.
Business leaders are facing a thorny dilemma. On the one hand, a growing number of customers, employees and sometimes shareholders expect companies to help address some of the environmental, societal, and geopolitical issues the world is facing. On the other hand, in the context of widening domestic and international polarization, the risks of doing so have sharply increased.
