Series 2 Episode 4: When to speak out
How to navigate corporate speech in divided times
Speaking out is risky right now (understatement), but is not speaking out on the issues your customers, investors and employees care about the only answer? In this episode of Cutting Through, Scott, Georgia and Jonathan discuss strategies for taking a stand in 2026; why your company’s values might be the North Star you’ve been looking for; and how speaking out via the corporate digital channels can actually bring people together, rather than dividing them further, even in unprecedentedly fractious times.
At a glance
Speak out when it’s relevant to:
- your business
- your customers, employees and other stakeholders
- what you’ve done in the past
Use your company values as your North Star to guide you as you consider what is relevant.
Best practice examples
References and resources
Collective letters and internal memos
- Minnesota Fortune 500 CEO letter in response to immigration enforcement surge in that state
- PR News on what the events in Minnesota say about corporate activism
- Reporting from CBS on Tim Cook’s internal memo saying he was “heartbroken” about events in Minnesota and praising the President Trump’s “openness to engaging on issues that matter to us all”
- Communications leaders sign a letter urging press freedom after two journalists were arrested in the US
- Eight European companies sign a letter urging the EU not to weaken sustainability requirements (January 2025)
Companies taking a stand on their digital channels
- Anthropic's statement on comments by the US Secretary of War, 27 February 2026
- Axios article: Anthropic's Pentagon standoff signals a broader corporate pushback
A new tone in communications, mostly in the political sphere
- California Governor Gavin Newsom’s X feed as an example of how political discourse is becoming more biting and ironic, even as corporate communication tend to be mild and risk-averse
- Patagonia’s ironical “Global warming is over, baby!” post drawing attention to its climate advocacy
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address at the World Economic Forum, which was widely hailed as a new kind of political speech
- Sir Ian McKellen delivering lines from Shakespeare on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as an example of how it’s possible to make a strong statement inventively
Further reading
- Podcast: Can a crisis be a good thing?
Inside-out communications
- Article: How to respond to the DEI backlash
- Article: Make your corporate website a reputation fortress
- Article: How Verizon opened up its employee communications to everyone
- Article: Taking a “mixternal” approach at Nestlé
- Challenge article: Who will speak for your company, human or machine?