In mid-June, weeks after protests against racial injustice spread globally, the Leadership Now Project—founded in 2017 by HBS alumni to fix American democracy—released the Business for Racial Equity Pledge. Spearheaded by six Black HBS alumni, the pledge asks business leaders to promise that they will pursue anti-racist initiatives in the areas of policing reform; safe ballot access and civic participation; and economic inclusion.

Among the alumni authors of the pledge is Lisa Lewin (MBA 2003), a Leadership Now steering committee member, ed tech veteran, and current cofounder and managing partner of Ethical Ventures, a management consultancy dedicated to social enterprises. In its first month, the Business for Racial Equity Pledge was signed by more than 1,000 people—half of which are either CEOs or senior-level executives.

In this episode of Skydeck, Lewin speaks with contributor April White about the impetus behind the pledge, what success might look like, and why she remains optimistic that real change is possible.

Lisa Lewin (MBA 2003)

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April White: As a community, business leaders have been thinking a lot recently about the role they can play in changing society. But I know this is a topic you've been engaged in for a long time. What first sparked your interest in it?

Lisa Lewin: I think it was probably my family. My father was a corporate executive. My mother was an entrepreneur in education. And so business and leadership were really the world that I grew up in and I realized pretty early that business could be an incredibly powerful force for good and for general human flourishing, as well as a pretty powerful source of destruction, of extraction, of human suffering.

I wanted to lead businesses that were going to be a source for good, and that really aspired to both, to profit and to purpose. You know, the whole premise or conceit, if you will, that's sort of taught in business schools, is that the private sector and the free markets yield the best societal outcomes, yield the most good with scarce resources. I believed that and I still believe that.

Then the question becomes what happens then when we find ourselves in a moment when we're not getting ideal societal outcomes, right? When we're experiencing existential climate crisis, persistent and wealth-diminishing income disparity, wealth disparity, gender disparities, racial disparities. When we're in a moment when democracy is in decline, authoritarianism is on the rise around the world and where many people in this country and beyond are fearful and dissatisfied with our national and global prospects. To me, it seems the most rational question in the world to ask is, is business playing a positive role here? If not, why not? And how can it?

April White: Lisa, you've raised a lot of really important issues that business can be engaged in, but we're talking right now because of the Black Lives Matter protests that were sparked by the killing of George Floyd. Tell me about your own reaction to that news.

Lisa Lewin: Oh, April, that is such a heavy, complicated question. So as an African-American woman of a certain age, I have over four-and-a-half decades of experience that I wish I didn't of seeing Black lives cut short by either race-based violence or fatal encounters with law enforcement. So if I'm being candid, my initial response was a tragically resigned, here we are again. You develop over the decades a certain veneer that allows you just to function and not be paralyzed by grief every single time it happens. And so that was my reaction was, here we are again.

I had a slightly different reaction to the protests, which was pride, incredible pride at this new generation of young people who are taking to the streets and who are exercising their rights to make their voices heard and saying enough is enough. And that pride was combined with, I'll call it a cautious hope at new entrants into the fight that included an incredible diversity of protestors, both great diversity of age and great racial diversity, ethnic diversity. While the incident itself, sadly did not feel different at all, the protests and who is involved in them and then the business community's response, actually, genuinely felt different and genuinely felt like a new opportunity.

April White: We have unfortunately become very used to the so-called thoughts and prayers statements that come from business and political leaders after tragedies like this. Why do you think it was different this time?

Lisa Lewin: Having been in business for over a quarter century, I've seen my fair share of the usual PR polished statements from corporate America. These were bolder, they went further, they took a stronger stand against bigotry and bias. And I think the reason for that, is because unfortunately business leaders are sort of looking around and seeing that leadership isn't going to come from anywhere else. We're in this really precarious moment where the basic competence that we can usually count on from people steering our government, especially at the federal level on any of these topics—on public health, on climate, on equity—is unfortunately absent.

April White: Lisa, you very well described this world of despair and of pride and of cautious hope and of a leadership vacuum. How did all that become the Leadership Now Project’s Business for Racial Equity Pledge?

Lisa Lewin: It started with a group of friends, fellow senior business executives and HBS alums, all of us members of the Leadership Now Project. It started off as a set of conversations with some of the other African-American members of Leadership Now, but grew to being a multiracial coalition of authors and writers. And we started to discuss and debate and then draft what we hoped would be something of a roadmap that businesses could follow. Businesses in particular, who were interested, not just in talking the talk, but walking the walk to really prevent the next George Floyd, the next Breonna Taylor, the next Rayshard Brooks. Because there's often a considerable amount of good intent, but the actions that businesses should be taking are often not that clear and not that obvious.

April White: 07:30 And what does the pledge ask them to commit to?

Lisa Lewin: 07:35 So what the business pledge is asking for is for businesses to both look outward and look inward. The looking outward is really asking for businesses to use their considerable clout and influence to advocate for change at the local, state, and federal level. It is a fact that what business prioritizes and where business puts its muscle can get done in a way that often the public is not able to do and exercise influence. So the idea of the business pledge is for businesses to embrace and use that clout and influence to advocate for change and also to look inward at their internal approaches to creating diverse and inclusive workplaces.

April White: What has the response to the pledge been?

Lisa Lewin: 08:34 The response has been remarkable. We have well over 1,000 signatures by senior executives across a range of industries in finance, in real estate, in media, in tech. We have some very famous signers like Ann Fudge and Reid Hoffman. We have signers that are at every level of the organization. It's really been broad-based and enthusiastic support that we've been really heartened by.

April White: Where do you see the push for this kind of positive impact coming from?

Lisa Lewin: First, I think what we have seen from consumers has been incredible. Their increasing commitment to spending money on companies and brands aligned with their values has been an incredible, catalyzing force for leaders in the business community.

Then I think about employees. You know, we all spend—in this country certainly, in corporate American culture—most of our lives and the bulk of our talents at work. What you're seeing is employees increasingly wanting to work at places that do good and who are weary about the doublespeak and the virtue signaling.

And then there are a couple of other heroes, if you will, I think that will emerge as the story gets written. Owners of private companies—the Patagonia’s, the Dr. Bronner’s, the Ben & Jerry’s—who for decades have been slowly but steadily paving the way. They have forged a path forward for businesses across sectors. And then I think—perhaps a story that is still emerging—are asset allocators, sovereign funds, pension funds that are steadily embracing what are called, you know, ESG principles (environmental, social, governance criteria) and trying to ensure that the capital that they have responsibility for investing are going to asset managers and portfolio companies that are cognizant of their broader societal impact.

April White: There are three topics covered in the pledge: biased policing, ballot access, and economic inclusion. Those first two are things that business leaders haven’t always considered to be within their purview. How do you react to people who say these are political, not business issues?

Lisa Lewin: The truth is is we're not actually asking businesses to become political because business is already hyper-political. I really encourage people to go through and read the incredible work that Michael Porter and Katherine Gehl have done in these last few years which lay out what many of us have already known, which is business is one of, if not the most vocal and influential political actors in our democracy—through lobbying, through corporate donations, through government affairs offices, that many times are engaging in public policy, writing, and advocacy that even other employees and other departments in the organization are not fully aware of.

This is not asking businesses who are apolitical to suddenly become political. This is asking businesses that are already very effective political actors to use some of that influence, not just on behalf of their own interests and their shareholders interests, but to use that influence on behalf of their employees, their communities and society as a whole.

April White: At this moment, we as a country are very focused on the issue of racial equity, but what are some of the key factors that will determine whether businesses can continue to make good on commitments like the Business for Racial Equity Pledge long-term?

Lisa Lewin: I would say first any change effort, not just issues of equity, but any effort to be successful as any good business leader knows, requires sustained commitment and sustained focus. And it has to be from the very top.

Second I would say, ensure that whatever initiatives you've decided to focus on internally, externally, or otherwise that you're giving it the planning, the resourcing, establishing targets and measurements and incentives that you would attach to any other strategic initiative that mattered.

Third, I would say don't demand perfection of yourself. I make mistakes, clients make mistakes, people make mistakes when they're doing these things. And if you demand or expect perfection, you'll get discouraged very quickly and very easily. So, give yourself a break. Some days trying is enough.

And then the last thing I would say is on the other side of that, don't expect a cookie, don't expect a trophy, right? Don't be surprised or discouraged when, as you embark on these initiatives inside of your own teams and companies, if you're not met with fawning gratitude, but instead you're met with some pushback and critique. Expect it, use it to learn, use it to get better and keep moving forward.

April White: Lisa, we've talked about some big, heavy, important issues today. When you look at the business community and the issues society is facing, are you optimistic?

Lisa Lewin: It depends, It really, it depends. If I'm reading the news, which is impossible to escape, it is hard. I have to put myself in a very different headspace to stay optimistic, because the news on any number of fronts, whether it's climate, whether it's public health, whether it's wealth and income disparities, whether it's the health of our democracy, gender equity, racial equity—I mean the laundry list of huge existential problems that we face feels endless and growing. That being said, what gives me incredible optimism even in this sort of world that feels sometimes like it is literally on fire, is the amount of awareness and engagement from every level of society. It's as if we, as a community of business leaders, as if we, as a community of consumers, as if we, as a community of citizens have really woken up and are taking on a personal responsibility each and every one of us to be contributors to the solution in a way that feels new and refreshing and hopeful.

Skydeck is produced by the External Relations department at Harvard Business School and edited by Craig McDonald. It is available at iTunes and wherever you get your favorite podcasts. For more information or to find archived episodes, visit alumni.hbs.edu/skydeck.

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