HBR's 10 Must Reads 2019

CHATTERJI AND TOFFEL

Activism in action

Corporate leader Issue Action taken

Marc Benioff

CEO, Salesforce

Antidiscrimination In 2015, Benioff tweeted his opposition to

Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration

Act and suspended corporate travel to

the state; he later spoke out against

North Carolina’s bathroom bill and

developed a reputation for rallying other

business leaders to speak out.

Dan Cathy

CEO, Chick- fi l- A

Same- sex marriage In 2012, Cathy publicly opposed same-

sex marriage on a radio show; his

corporation’s foundation also donated to

anti- LGBTQ organizations.

David and Barbara

Green

Cofounders, Hobby

Lobby

Health care/

religious freedom

The Greens fi led a highly publicized

lawsuit in 2012 to oppose Aff ordable Care

Act– mandated birth control coverage.

Peter Lewis

Late chairman, Pro-

gressive Insurance

Marijuana

decriminalization

In 2011, Lewis wrote an opinion piece for

Forbes supporting decriminalization;

he also donated $3 million to marijuana

legalization campaigns.

John Mackey

CEO, Whole Foods

Market

Health care In 2009, Mackey wrote an editorial criti-

cizing the Aff ordable Care Act.

Paul Polman

CEO, Unilever

Climate change Polman has delivered many public

speeches supporting government poli-

cies to address climate change.

Jim Rogers

Former CEO, Duke

Energy

Climate change In 1990, Rogers (as CEO of Public Service

Indiana, which eventually became part

of Duke Energy) testifi ed before Congress

in support of Clean Air Act amendments;

he later lobbied Congress to support

climate change legislation.

Hamdi Ulukaya

CEO, Chobani

Refugee crisis In 2014, Ulukaya pledged to donate

$2 million to refugees. He also hired refu-

gees to work at Chobani’s manufacturing

plants and wrote an op- ed for CNN in

support of refugees.

Source: Michael W. Toff el, Aaron K. Chatterji, and Julia Kelley, “CEO Activism (a),” Harvard
Business School Case 617-001, March 2017.