The election of Donald Trump for a second term marked a profound shift in how organisations operate and manage their workforces, a transformation that can be directly linked to Donald Trump's return to the presidency. Within 48 hours of his January inauguration, Trump issued executive orders specifically targeting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives throughout the American public sector.
Sensing the change in the new government’s attitude towards DEI, a number of private-sector organisations - including some of the biggest businesses in the world - have scaled back their DEI efforts. These include, and are by no means limited to:
- Accenture no longer using diversity targets when hiring new staff or promoting internally
- Disney replacing the “Diversity & Inclusion” metric for evaluating employee performance with “Talent Strategy”
- Victoria’s Secret scrapping a target to promote a certain percentage of black employees
- Many large retailers, brands and banking institutions removing references to DEI from their annual reports
Of course, many of these developments go against the progressive values and principles that these businesses’ customers and employees want them to uphold. So when it comes to maintaining and inspiring trust, many business leaders are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place.
The impact of the ‘retreat from purpose’
At the same time as the DEI rollbacks, many businesses have similarly scaled back or ended environmentally friendly actions that support the fight against climate change. Where these two areas converge is in an overarching shift away from businesses doing things that have - or are at least perceived to have - a positive social purpose.
The incoming Trump administration is not the only driving factor around this shift, however. In 2024, before Trump won the election, motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson and tractor manufacturer John Deere both stepped back from DEI commitments amid fear of lost sales from their traditional customer bases and demographics.
There is also increased pressure on businesses through ‘shareholder activism’, where shareholders are becoming more and more demanding to see a return on their investments through profits and dividends. This has forced some business leaders to prioritise short-term success and growth above longer-term initiatives, especially those related to social purpose where the benefit to the bottom line is often less tangible.
But whatever the cause, the effect of businesses no longer committing to social purpose initiatives can be profound. On 28 February 2025, a coordinated protest movement in the USA called The People’s Union staged a 24-hour boycott of all major corporations that had committed to scrapping DEI initiatives, including Amazon, Target and Walmart.
In response, many corporations are tempted to quietly abandon their social purpose commitments while maintaining superficial public allegiance to these principles. This approach, however, carries substantial risk of being labeled as "purpose-washing" and potentially alienating their customer base. The consequences can be severe—Facebook experienced an 8.3% stock value plunge after facing accusations of purpose-washing through its #StopHateForProfit campaign.
Helping business leaders in their time of need
While much of the controversy in this area emanates from the United States, today’s globally connected economies means it’s an issue elsewhere, too. And the conflicting demands of authorities, shareholders and consumers are putting many businesses - and by extension, their leaders - in a very difficult position.
It’s therefore exactly the kind of situation where they look to leadership coaches and consultants for advice on a way forward that satisfies the demands of all parties. To achieve this, it’s vital that coaches get right to the heart of the problem and address the issue properly. Generic training will only produce temporary improvements; surface-level conversations will only generate surface-level solutions; and selling cut-price packages for purpose-driven leadership coaches will frame social purpose as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a business essential.
This is where a programme such as The Trusted Executive can be so invaluable, using the ‘Nine Habits of Trust’ methodology to help leaders build trust-inspiring actions into their day-to-day work. This can help employees and customers alike feel that business leaders share their values, and that they still want to create positive, sustainable change in the world.
Even when leaders have to take unpopular actions, building this trust can be fundamental to retaining positive perceptions in the long term. It can also encourage other leaders and businesses to do the same: one lighthouse becomes many, and the tide will turn. Trust functions as a force multiplier, enabling organisations to find a new way to drive society forward.
This powerful impact of trust and purpose extends directly to financial performance: according to Cone Communications, 87% of customers are willing to purchase a product because its maker advocates for an issue they care about. It also makes a big difference across the workforce: Deloitte has found that purpose-driven businesses are 30% more innovative and have 40% greater workforce retention. At the same time, HBR research indicates that people at high-trust companies are 50% more productive, 29% more satisfied, and 74% less stressed.
Trust and purpose: practical strategies for coaches and consultants
So what can coaches and consultants like you do in practice to help business leaders keep social purpose in focus? It starts by keeping that purpose in focus for your own business operation:
- Building stakeholder-specific value propositions addressing unique concerns of different roles
- Using milestone planning with quantifiable progress metrics to balance long-term strategy with short-term financial performance
- Develop arguments for social purpose, backed up by data, that financially-driven decision-makers will engage with
- Openly discuss challenges around meeting purpose commitments while satisfying shareholder demands
- Encourage leaders to look for strategies that can rebuild damaged trust with employees and customers.
When business leaders are empowered to drive social purpose, they can do great things for the world and society around them. For example, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard transferred the company’s entire shareholding to two non-profit organisations created to protect its values, and to support the environment. He also co-founded the “1% for the Planet” movement that encourages businesses to donate at least 1% of their annual sales to environmental nonprofits. To date, 1% for the Planet has certified over $708 million in donations to environmental causes.
It underlines how businesses often have more power than governments to create positive, sustainable change around the world. One brave “lighthouse” can inspire many others, and this kind of action can make leaders feel that they’re making a difference that goes far beyond the balance sheet. But to realise that vision, coaches need to maintain their own purpose commitment, too.
Find out more on balancing trust and purpose, and adding new insights and philosophies to your coaching methods, by contacting The Coaching Circle today.