Where is our line in the sand? As a CEO I was torn by the tension between Profits and Politics - the Politics of human rights and freedom of speech within a country we were doing business with.
Doing business with for example Saudi Arabia and Russia reaped critical incremental sales and profits. At the same time their regimes clearly abuse freedom of speech and disregard the democratic freedoms we hold dear.
Today we are all learning that as business leaders we need to take a position to not do business with some countries and regimes just because they offer those precious profits we are all challenged to deliver.
There is one small light to this story - in visiting The Body Shop stores in Saudi and being shocked to see our store staff dressed from top to toe in black material with only small slits for their eyes, we laughed together, talked and shared ideas in a way I had not quite experienced in other countries. It could be argued that our presence was helping our female store staff find opportunity and income and that was good.
A dilemma for sure on where to Draw the Right Line in the Sand.
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