Several years ago, I caught up with a business school classmate who was a rockstar. She’d had an incredible career in the 20 years since receiving her MBA and returning home to Turkey. But at this moment she was scared, and it had nothing to do with the underlying strength of her business: She feared that the political turmoil in her country was putting everything at stake—her company, her freedom, and her family’s future.
The rule of law was quickly eroding and the government was targeting dissenting business leaders with laws, rhetoric, and even jail time for some. She shared that her focus had always been on growing her business and raising her family, but now she was seeing the cost of being apolitical.
What was happening in Turkey was symptomatic of an advanced stage of democratic decline. She observed similar trends in Turkey that I recounted in my recent TED talk, which were also present at a lower level in the United States. She left me with chills when she said, “We are in season 10 of this perverse show called the Demise of Democracy; you in the U.S. are in season 3.”
The rise of authoritarianism
The increasing threat from autocratic regimes worldwide is growing—from Turkey to Hungary, China to Russia—striking fear in business leaders and citizens alike. Where there is no consistent rule of law, the whims of political leaders can easily cause business leaders to lose their companies or become enemies of the state.
My academic and professional journey began with an engineering degree and MBA in the 90s, at the onset of the post-Cold War era. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of apartheid signaled a decline in authoritarian regimes and leading political scientists hailed democracy and capitalism as the clear winners. In this context, I and many other Gen Xers, went into business, pursuing the exciting new frontiers of innovation and global growth. We were optimistic, the world was becoming increasingly interconnected, and politics seemed mostly irrelevant.
The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Authoritarianism is resurgent, with profound implications for those of us in business, as the very basis for global capitalism as we know it is in jeopardy. Populist governments and parties are pushing for higher walls between countries and markets. Political leaders are taking to X (formerly Twitter) to threaten companies, and it’s going beyond rhetoric, particularly by governors and state legislatures.
The Disney-DeSantis dispute is the most notable—where DeSantis punished Disney for expressing views different than his own—a most basic, constitutionally protected free speech right. But the threats go far beyond that; state legislators and attorney generals are increasingly threatening companies that say or do things they don’t like. It’s hard to imagine a more fundamental threat to the innovation and freedoms that have been the foundation of America’s economic power.
Gen X leaders must recognize their role
As Generation X business leaders, we find ourselves at the helm of numerous enterprises (68% of CEOs are Gen X), yet the lessons from our MBAs, leadership trainings, and mentors seem inadequate in helping us navigate this moment. The era of business as usual is over. Our role now consists of not only advancing specific business goals, but also recognizing these goals must include protecting our political system, and making it significantly more effective and representative of citizen priorities.
We face the real risk that our political system gets fully captured by extremes who have no interest in governing or representing anyone but themselves—and who will attack any person or company that stands in their way. Throughout history, too many well-meaning leaders in other nations have stood by and watched season after season of democracy decline without taking action. Many fear the same might happen in the United States.
BUT, going down this path is not inevitable. That call to action is at the heart of the Leadership Now Project, which since 2018 has mobilized American business leaders across multiple industries and states. We believe it is essential to maintain trust in elections, protect the ability of individuals or companies to disagree with political leaders without fear of retribution, and to support elected officials who show a commitment to strengthening the system. We believe those in business who can navigate the complexities of the moment and help their companies and our nation thrive are the true leaders that we should support and emulate.
These lofty goals can and must be translated to practical actions. In October 2020, Leadership Now issued a business statement to affirm election legitimacy, attracting over 200 signatories including CEOs and major companies, which later led to a collective call to Congress to certify the election and condemn the January 6th Capitol attack. In 2022, our members led a bipartisan group of Wisconsin executives to ask candidates for governor and the state Supreme Court to commit to certifying future election results—and endorsed only candidates who agreed to do so.
That same year, Leadership Now supported the passage of legislation that safeguarded presidential transitions, culminating in the bipartisan reform of the Electoral Count Act of 1887. In August 2023, business leaders successfully opposed a referendum in Ohio that threatened to limit citizen ballot initiatives.
With a presidential election year upon us, Gen X leaders will need to protect the basics, be pragmatic about the election, and maintain momentum for real renewal and innovation in the system.
- Protect the basics: Any effort to diminish faith in election results, threaten or intimidate election administrators or make it harder to vote goes to the core of American values and democracy. Supporting civic participation and engagement and reinforcing faith in the system is something we can all do. It’s not partisan, it’s American.
- Be pragmatic: This is a two-man race, Trump versus Biden. Any vote otherwise is a vote thrown away (medium term we also need to reform our primary system). And seven states will determine this election: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona. If you live or do business in those states, getting out to vote, standing up to protect poll workers, and reinforcing trust in elections is absolutely crucial. Also critical is the House of Representatives that will be decided on slim margins, including multiple competitive races in New York and California, and provides an important check on power of the executive branch.
- Renewal and innovation: We need systems and talent renewal in politics. There are some amazing emerging leaders in state houses and Congress—and talented Gen Xer governors, including Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and Spencer Cox (R-UT), who are focused on bringing people together rather than dividing them. Governor Cox’s plea to depolarize our politics is a great example. Get to know your local and state political leaders who are serious and committed to strengthening our democracy, and work with them to make the system better, by ending gerrymandering in states, opening up primaries, instituting ranked-choice voting, advocating for citizen assemblies and direct democracy, and more.
In this moment we need to be both practical and principled, and recognize the urgency of the moment. Move Fast and Fix Thingswas published last year byHarvard Business School professors Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, gurus on management and leadership, and Leadership Now members. I can’t think of better guidance for what Gen Xers need to do now. Let’s move fast and fix our nation.
Daniella Ballou-Aares is the founder and CEO of the Leadership Now Project.