To protect their businesses, corporate leaders need to speak out about the events in Minnesota and beyond

"Corporate leaders today are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Nobody can see events playing out in the streets in Minnesota and elsewhere and not be moved in some way. At the same time, they have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of their stakeholders, regardless of their personal feelings. I know this dilemma because I experienced it myself."

"As I explained in my book, , these things follow a specific pattern of contagion, adoption, and defection driven by networks. Eventually, the nonlinear nature of network cascades overwhelms regimes and compels institutions to act. Now, that pattern is unfolding right here and, for corporate leaders, it is no longer something you can afford to ignore. 1. Contagion: How Movements Learn, Adapt, and Spread 2004 was an election year in Ukraine, so politics was in the air."

"But the true origins started even earlier, in a Belgrade café in 1998. It was there that a small group of five activists met and established the youth group Otpor. Their efforts got a boost from a little-known academic named Gene Sharp, who had developed nonviolent methods of overthrowing authoritarian regimes and established the Albert Einstein Institution to support activists around the world."

Corporate leaders face a conflict between emotional responses to street protests and fiduciary obligations to stakeholders. Nonviolent movements follow a pattern of contagion, adoption, and defection driven by social networks. Nonlinear network cascades can overwhelm regimes and force institutions to act. The 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine exemplified how youth groups and organized activists can mobilize during an election year. Earlier examples trace back to Otpor in Belgrade in 1998, which drew on Gene Sharp’s methods and institutional support to spread nonviolent tactics across Eastern Europe. Corporate leaders can no longer ignore these dynamics.

Read at Fast Company