On April 22nd, the Florida state legislature voted to dissolve an act made law in 1967 that essentially allowed the Walt Disney complex to operate as a private government. The dissolution is set to be effective in June of 2023.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nPeople have reacted in multiple ways\u2026 to the contents of the parental rights bill\u2026 to Disney\u2019s initial silence\u2026 to the role of social media and public pressure\u2026 to the state\u2019s perceived retaliatory response\u2026 and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Respecting, of course, all angles and opinions, let\u2019s address the bigger issue\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s the role of business in politics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And also, how far should corporate wokeness go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWoke\u201d or \u201cwokeness\u201d continues to evolve. In its simplest form, the terminology conveys an awareness of social issues. Some see it as a virtue \u2014 others, an insult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the bottom line question \u2014 that\u2019s relevant in the current Disney debate and seemingly a fantastic question to earnestly, respectfully ask \u2014 is how far should a company go in regard to political involvement, especially, when the issue doesn\u2019t directly affect them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\u2026 do the totality of the opinions of their stakeholders matter? … noting, of course, that a company\u2019s stakeholders typically adhere to a wide spectrum of beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an excellent question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been toying this week with the opinion of former McDonald\u2019s CEO Ed Rensi (the man who\u2019s actually credited with inventing the infamous \u201cMcNugget\u201d),<\/em> who said, “Corporations have no business being on the right or the left because they represent everybody there and their sole job is to build equity for their investors\u2026 It is not the providence of board members or executives that take shareholder money profit and spend it on social matters.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nI\u2019m assuming such recognizes the wide spectrum of stakeholders\u2019 beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friends, I don\u2019t have an easy answer to this question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a citizen of the Sunshine State (and yes, in the same county as the Walt Disney complex is technically a part of),<\/em> my desire is for the Disney CEO and Florida\u2019s Gov. Ron DeSantis to meet together, seeing if they can avoid the June 2023 self-government dissolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\nI\u2019d also like them to listen well, respect each other, and sincerely ask and answer these questions. How far is too far for a corporation to go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How far is too far especially if a company\u2019s advocacy or opposition doesn\u2019t fully represent their stakeholders?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can we work better together on this and other issues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P.S. For the record, I was at Epcot on Monday, one of my favorite parks to routinely visit. Soarin\u2019, Test Track,<\/em> and Mission: SPACE<\/em> are totally awesome attractions! The Pandora<\/em> ride at Animal Kingdom is the best, though. Be sure not to miss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a small world, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Disney debate has certainly been an interesting one. For discussion purposes, allow me to offer a concise, factual timeline: On March 8th, the Florida state legislature passed the \u201cParental Rights in Education\u201d bill. Dubbed the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill by opponents, the legislation prohibits \u201cclassroom instruction\u201d on sexual orientation and gender identity for students … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “honestly, the bigger question in the Disney debate\u2026”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12570"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12587,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12570\/revisions\/12587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}