Following a report that a PR firm urged its corporate clients to avoid a public stance on the abortion debate with consumers on differing sides on the issue, Fortune Media CEO Alan Murray joined Cheddar News to discuss corporate America’s role as addressed in "Tomorrow's Capitalist," his book about pragmatism in the face of contentious political disputes. "Some of the critics said, 'oh they're just being woke CEOs, they're trying to play in politics.' They're not trying to play in politics. That's what they're trying to avoid," Murray said. "So I think if there is a tightrope here, the tight rope is, how do we support our employees, make it clear to them that we're going to give them the healthcare support that they want and need, but not get involved in a big national political debate."

Opening Bell

Fortune Media CEO Alan Murray on Corporations Navigating Abortion Debate

joining me now is Alan Murray ceo of Fortune Media and author of Tomorrow's capitalists. My search for the soul of businesses or business. Alan you oversee the business and editorial operations of Fortune Media. Can you just give us your take on how companies are and maybe should be managing the controversy surrounding roe v wade's draft opinion. Yeah, it's a great question ELISA and thank you for asking me. Uh, and having me on uh look, I think this is a difficult one. On the one hand, a lot of big companies are making it clear they're going to stand by their employees provide for their health needs. If that includes the need for abortion, they'll provide the cost of the out of state travel. A number of big companies have made those statements, but that's very different than making a public statement and getting into a big political fight. Uh, which companies generally want to avoid, they don't want to take. They they've got employees on both sides of this equation to for the most part, they don't want to take public stands on the issue. But you do see a lot of companies privately saying we will provide the support our employees need to get the healthcare they want up to your point there where we've seen companies like Tesla amazon. Um, just to name a few there, even city all saying that they'll reimburse employees for travel costs if they seek an abortion. But there's a bit of tight rope walking happening, right? We're seeing like Tesla for example, they don't specifically cite abortion in their wording of that. They cite like medical procedures outside the state, they can't otherwise be be done in the state, they'll reimburse costs for that. Do you see any of this being a bit of a chilling effect of what happened? You know, down in florida with de Santis and Disney, I think there's some of that, you know, a lot of the critics of what's happening in my book, as you know, is about this rising movement of stakeholder capitalism where companies are taking more responsibility for their role in society, but and some of the critics said, oh they're just being woke, Ceo is they're trying to uh play in politics, They're not trying to play in politics, that's what they're trying to avoid. So I think if there is a tightrope here, the tight group is how do we support our employees, make it clear to them that we're going to give them the healthcare support that they that they want and need but not getting involved in a big national political debate. It's not in companies interests to do that, There's no reason they they need to do that. I don't think anyone thinks they're going to affect the Supreme Court decision at this point. How challenging is it then to walk that tightrope? Because as you mentioned, there are some that say it's woke ceo s but it's really the reality of C. E. O. S. Feeling the pressure from either shareholders or even employees to stand up and be more vocal on behalf of employees. I think we're gonna have a long hot summer, right? I don't think we're gonna be talking about this for a long time. There will be pressure on on employees to to step out. Look what the companies are saying is we have clear values, we want to state those values clearly to our employees. That's really important for us as companies, but we don't want to get involved in political fights. Why should they get involved in political fights? I mean, the whole reason the companies are playing a greater role in social issues these days is because our government is responding so poorly. Our government has been unable to address climate change, unable to effectively address inequality and and corporate leaders are now standing up and saying, hey our society is at risk here. We have to get involved in these things. So a lot of the impulse that you're seeing from corporations to take a greater role in social issues is precisely because they think the political system is broken and they don't want to be a part of it. I hear you talking, I sit here and I think the reality is almost everything has become political. I mean even a woman's body has become political and so, you know, when you look at past Supreme Court rulings, where a company is in the eyes of the court scene as a person. Um how does a person, Sasha company stand up for anything in society without it becoming political? And, and is that just the biggest challenge right now, in this time that we're dealing with when it comes to companies? I think it is the big challenge. Look, if you go back, all you have to do is go back 10 years ago and the common response of C E O s on any social issue was to hide under the desk and keep their mouth shut. It's really only been in the last six or seven years that you started to see companies say, hey look, we have to stand up for our employees. We have to stand up for our stakeholders. We have to stand up for our values and the things we believe in. This is a case where uh, they will do that principally by making clear that they'll, they'll give this the health support that their employees need. But again, the goal has always been to try and stay out of politics because politics is broken. If companies becoming politicized as our politics is, then they're not going to be effective at this either. The flip side of that is that we know so many companies give political donations and that has been a part of the catalyst that is that is that has forced people, employees stockholders or just the average person to say, hey, you can't say you don't want to be political yet. You are funding politicians in one way or the other. Do we ever get to a point that, that we don't see that or I don't even know how you balance this between giving donations and not being political Alicia. It's a really interesting debate and some people have called on companies and I think some companies have pulled out of the political donations. I personally don't think that's a good idea. Look, what's what's happened over the course of my career is that corporate leaders have gone from defining the right side of the spectrum to the center of the spectrum and that's mainly because their prime Matic problem solvers. So they're trying to address issues like climate. They're trying to address issues like diversity and inclusion. They're trying to address issues like job opportunity. And so companies have become the center of the spectrum instead of the, the right right wing of the spectrum. I think that's actually a good influence on politics. Most companies today are a centrist influence on politics. I would hate to see them pull out because then you just end up with more polarization in politics back to this specific issue and what we're seeing right now happen, especially around abortion in America. What sort of influence can corporations have on abortion laws throughout the country, but more broadly just women's rights because abortion has become a political issue when the reality is it's an issue on women's rights in a way that we don't see men's rights being targeted in any kind of similar parallel. I think you're gonna see the first reaction of of companies is to defend their boys to make sure that their employees can get the care that they want or need. So, so that'll be step one. Changing the politics around this abortion debate is is hard, hard thing. They've only gotten nastier over the years. I think that maybe more than you can uh than you can ask of corporations right now, the best they're going to be able to do is to defend their employees. I think that is a fair statement to have asked employers to to make this a non political issue. Um is something that that's a little bit too much for them, but it's for us, the people to decide and really in our voting um strategies make that decision to to make it a non political issue if that's the case. Alan really appreciate your insight in your time, Alan Murray, ceo of fortune media and author of Tomorrow's capitalist. My search for the soul of business