18 February, 2026

Are we at the beginning of a pendulum swing back towards progressive, values-based business and sustainability? Could Davos come to be seen as marking a turning point, with the likes of Mark Carney crystallising the need to fight for a new approach to international affairs? Will the recent wave of corporate leaders being more vocal about sustainability gather momentum?

It’s no doubt too early to say, and the counterforces remain very strong. But we are optimists at heart. So we are latching on to a change in the mood music and the seeds of hope that suggest the fightback is in its ascendancy. And rather than acquiescing with the Trump/ populist/ anti-woke agenda, we will see public the case for the alternative.

Our optimism is helped by the fact that the hand of business is increasingly being forced. Taking a stand becomes less optional when political, social and cultural factors start to impede directly on the business world’s ability to operate.

And this is what we’re beginning to see. ‘Gunboat capitalism’ as the Economist terms it, characterises the way politicians have started re-drawing the map for global business, setting out where multi-nationals can and can’t do business and making strategic decisions for them. As with most things, Trump takes this to the next level, seeing business as another tool at his disposal. Whether it is suggesting that oil bosses who do not return to Caracas will face retribution, taking equity stakes in critical industries or wielding tariffs as a weapon, the upshot is that business is deeply involved in the political agenda, through no choice of its own.

Meanwhile, national and international issues are continually intersecting with social and cultural faultlines in ways that are hard for business to predict or ignore. Michael Fiddelke, the new CEO of Target, stepped into his role exactly a week after the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE in downtown Minneapolis. His to-do list includes classic business issues including merchandising, store renovations, technology and supply chain. But it also includes navigating the outrage the killing has caused. Videos of immigration officers dragging an employee out of a Target store near Minneapolis, only compound its relevance and importance for the company. Figuring out a way forward that manages the multitude of complexities at play is a first order business priority.

And alongside these dynamics, there is also, perhaps, a sense that ‘enough is enough.’ The changing fabric of events and the blurring of lines between business and politics gives companies just cause to enter the fray, particularly on matters relating to rules-based order, independence and human rights, which business needs to function. Some business leaders are ready and willing to grab hold of this. Those for whom staying silent has been hard. Who want to use their power and influence for good. Take Sony Pictures’ CEO’s decision to publicly proclaim that the racist video shared on Truth Social was ‘regressive and despicable.’

Until recently we’ve argued that keeping your head relatively low was, as a business, a sensible and defensible strategy. We’ve never advocated for total silence, but rather for calibrating your public pronouncements, and speaking out only on issues or areas which are very directly relevant to your business and on which you have a clear point of view, linked to your purpose or the differentiating factor of your brand.

But we think the calculus has now changed. This moment in time demands a new response from businesses. One that faces into the challenge, without being blind to the very real risks it contains.

After all, the factors which drove businesses underground in the first place are more present than ever. The atmosphere is still febrile and there’s every chance that a business pushing out on an issue could become a lightning rod for criticism or punitive action.

So what’s the alternative? Well, we wonder if there can be safety – and strength – in numbers. While it remains hard for a lone business to go out alone, surely this is an opportunity for business alliances, sectoral coalitions and trade bodies to come into their own. Acting collectively allows businesses to articulate shared interests without placing the full burden on any single organisation. It enables companies to take principled positions on foundational issues such as the rule of law and freedom of trading while reducing individual exposure. It also creates space to engage on more values-driven topics, where appropriate, through a lens of common standards rather than corporate posturing. Collective action could depersonalise the debate. It shifts the focus from ‘what does this company believe?’ to ‘what does this sector need to function?’ or ‘what conditions enable long-term economic and social value?’ In doing so, it helps reframe business engagement not as political interference, but as legitimate participation in shaping the systems businesses depend on.

None of this is easy. Coalition-building is slow, messy and often uncomfortable. Consensus can feel like a lowest-common-denominator compromise. And values-based alignment will never be perfect.

But if the tide is beginning to turn, now is the time to act, together.

Step forward the CBI, the self-proclaimed ‘voice of business.’ The Business Roundtable, which aims to create a ‘thriving US economy.’ How about the Chamber of Commerce? The Consumer Goods Forum? Surely all these alliances can rally their forces to advocate for changes that make sense for all of them.

In an era of geopolitical tension, values wars and growing state intervention, we think collective action and resolve could be a powerful tool.

And one that could make the weak signals of change turn into something stronger and, perhaps, more permanent.

By Larissa Persons