Leadership

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It wasn’t obvious that a virus from China carried by global jet setters would create tinderbox conditions for the worst race riots since the 1960s. But so it did. Perhaps one reason why: Black adults were more than twice as likely as whites to have been laid off or furloughed during the pandemic.

That’s the finding of a Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll taken late last month. The survey found 24% of black adults said they had lost their jobs, compared with 20% of Hispanic workers, 19% of Asian workers, and 11% of white workers. (Full poll results here.) Throw in a race-tinged police killing, and you have fire.

Racial unrest ended up dominating yesterday’s meeting of members of the Fortune CEO Initiative. Among those participating was Ryan Williams–a 32-year-old black entrepreneur who has built a technology-driven real estate investment platform called Cadre, which reportedly has a valuation of at least $800 million. The meeting was off the record, but Williams spoke with me afterwards.

“I could very well have been in that same position because of how I looked,” …

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Good morning.

I’m going to run long today, in order to highlight the outpouring of CEO commentary on the George Floyd killing. As I’ve said here before, this sort of CEO public reaction to controversial social issues just didn’t happen a decade or more ago. Someone check my memory, but I don’t recall a flood of CEO sentiment after the Rodney King beating.

This time, the heartfelt statements were hard to keep up with. A sampling of the many:

“The tragic and unnecessary death of George Floyd in Minneapolis earlier this week and the ensuing unrest are glaring reminders of the progress we need to make to have a truly equal and just society.”
–Mike Corbat, Citigroup

“We cannot lose sight of the fact that racism is tearing our communities apart. One lesson we should all learn is that silent carriers help spread racism.”
–Arvind Krishna, IBM

“Regardless of race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, abilities, wealth and educational background or any other point of human difference, each person deserves to be recognized for who we are and respected for both our …

Good morning.

For the last three months, I have repeatedly asked, and have been asked, the same question: Will the pandemic accelerate the business community’s move toward stakeholder capitalism? Or slow it down as companies focus on short-term financial pressures?

The answer wasn’t obvious three months ago. But with each passing week, it is becoming more so. Most of the forces that have led to the stakeholder movement have become stronger during the pandemic. Among them:

1. The shift toward talent as the most important source of corporate value has continued. This trend could have been weakened by historic levels of unemployment, which have made labor plentiful. But plentiful labor is not the same as plentiful talent, and the pandemic seems to be leading an increasing number of talent-forward companies to take an “employees first” approach.

2. Demands for systemic change have intensified. The pandemic exposed flaws in our hyper-efficient approach to global markets, and it is deepening the divisions—both within countries and between them—that undercut support for the current economic system. (See Thomas Friedman’s interesting take on this here.) Business leaders need to respond, or risk losing their license to operate.

3. The dearth of leadership is ever …

Hugh Sandler used to commute two hours a day between Grand Central Terminal and his home in the New York City suburbs. Like thousands of other attorneys who logged long hours in Manhattan law firms, Sandler regarded coming into the office as an essential part of his job. Then came March, which marked the first time he and many other lawyers worked full days at home. For Sandler, it was a major adjustment—but also a surprisingly pleasant one.

“My experience has been very positive. I have a 7-month-old and being at home at this time has created a lot of additional benefits, including that I can be around for him,” he says.

Other lawyers—many working from home for the first time in their careers—described a variety of emotions, ranging from relief to something many haven’t felt since college: sheer, unadulterated delight. “Best three months of my life,” said one Chicago lawyer who has gained two hours a day of time with his family since giving up his commute.

Their experience reflects how the pandemic has shaken up the culture of corporate law firms. That culture, known in the legal world as “Big Law,” is characterized by long hours that obliged …

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As protests in Minneapolis over the death of a handcuffed African American turned increasingly violent, President Donald Trump threatened to send in armed forces and warned that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

In a pair of early morning tweets on Friday, the president assailed the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, as weak and said he had told Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that “the military is with him all the way.”

On Thursday night, a mob broke into the Third Precinct stationhouse in Minneapolis and set fire to it, according to the Associated Press. The officers had fled the building.

Protests over the death of George Floyd on Monday spread across the nation after a video of his encounter with police officers from the precinct spread across social media and television.

In the video, Floyd is on the pavement next to a police car with a white officer kneeling on his neck. He says that he cannot breath. The four officers involved were fired on Tuesday, though no charges have been filed.

Expressions of outrage from across the political spectrum followed the release of the video. There were protests in several other cities, including New York and Albuquerque. In Columbus, …