Upstanding

CHAPTER 7Magnetic Character:Activating Positive Forces

“If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?”

—Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton in the musical Hamilton

Take bold action to drive positive change.

This might be the most important chapter of this book. If you do nothing else, your call to action is to identify the environmental, social, or governance (ESG) issues that will test your company character. How you face them will affect your immediate and long-term reputation. You must decide whether those positions will be active or passive—making those decisions with intention and activating plans where needed. Ignore the call at your own peril. The risk is letting negative forces of offline character offend people you need for success instead of activating positive forces of upstanding character to attract loyal followers.

I recently joined a group of CEOs convened by Google. The discussion topic was the change in sensibility toward business leaders engaging on ESG issues directly and indirectly affecting their companies. The consensus: Engaging is no longer optional. Now is the moment for businesses and brands to figure out what they will stand for—which happens to also be a tenet of upstanding character. Figuring out what you think about and will do on matters of social justice, inclusion, climate change, or pay equity, for example, can energize the magnetic, positive forces of company character, helping your organization attract and retain loyal ...