The Obligation To Dissent

In business and in life, we need rabble-rousers, dissenters, challengers and whistleblowers. They are necessary in the search for truth and the pursuit of progress.

Levi’s, my former employer, has stated publicly that they supported my advocacy for opening public schools during the pandemic, but my criticism of public health guidelines went too far.

Besides the incoherence of this statement — public health guidelines provided cover for governments and school boards to keep the schools closed — I’d ask: why can’t I criticize public health guidelines and the unelected bureaucrats who set them?

As Albert Einstein said: “Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” 

And the truth is: public health “guidelines” dictated that playgrounds stay closed for more than 8 months in San Francisco; public health “guidelines” required that 2-year-olds wear masks in pre-school while adults attended packed sports venues and bars; public health “guidelines” ensured that liquor stores stayed open while meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous stayed “virtual.”

None of these edicts were in the service of the public’s health. And I’d argue it is our duty to challenge this sort of top down insanity. Silence and complicity in the face of such harmful decrees is, at best, amoral.

My former colleague — Kelly McGinnis, the head of Corporate Communications at Levi Strauss & Co. — was responsible for issuing the above statement from Levi’s.

During 2020-2021, she was dogged in insisting that I stop challenging the public health mandates. Her implied concern was that I would damage the reputation of the company — thus adversely impacting sales — by criticizing these not only ludicrous but damaging “rules.”

As a point of fact, the stock price of the company nearly doubled while I was Brand President, so the concerns about reputational harm were unfounded.

On October 6, 2020, during the 3rd quarter earnings call, CEO Chip Bergh opened with this statement:

Our third quarter results were substantially better than we expected, demonstrating the strength of our brand, the power of our diversified business model and the resilience of our teams around the world. Our brand is the strongest it's ever been and as the lockdowns lift, we're seeing consumers coming into stores on a mission.

In any event, being employed by a company does not mean I am under any sort of obligation to support government demands. In fact, living in a democracy — of the people, by the people, for the people — means we are obligated to use our voices and challenge unjust laws.

The same McGinnis once said at the IN2summit — a PR conference — back in 2014:

“Dissenters are a valuable source of information. Bring them to the table.”

She said this in this context of a business setting. And I agree.

In corporations, when no dissent is permitted, when guru-led cultures take hold, employees and leaders are cowed into silence. And when the dictatorial CEOs inevitably make poor decisions, there is no one there to challenge and ask the necessary questions.

And it’s not just “famous” leaders like the now-disgraced founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Elizabeth Holmes who stumble. Run-of-the-mill CEOs make mistakes too, even if they aren’t criminal ones. Even the most gifted leaders are wrong some of the time. Which is why creating a culture where all are free to challenge is critical to a well-functioning company.

As I said, McGinnis is correct. In business we need rabble-rousers and dissenters, even whistleblowers. We can’t get to the right answers if we aren’t free to discuss the wrong ones.

And the same is true in life. As Michael Senger, author of “Snake Oil: How Xi Jinping Shut Down the World,” recently wrote in his Substack “The New Normal”:

“. . . censorship is inherently incompatible with human progress. Civilizations that engage in widespread censorship therefore tend to stagnate.”

For this reason, it is the responsibility of every leader to welcome dissent. And it is why the Founding Fathers enshrined free speech in the Bill of Rights. Unfettered speech gives power to the people. It is the lynchpin of a democracy. And we need it to get to truth, to innovate, to progress, and to hold power to account.

One of my “catchphrases” as a corporate leader was: “Great ideas can come from anywhere. I want to hear from you.” But it wasn’t just a catchphrase. I meant it. And some of the best ideas that helped bring the Levi’s Brand back to health in the late 2010s came from my team — not me.

I was hyper-conscious that I could not do it alone. That I would be wrong. A lot. And so I needed to firmly establish processes that ensured my power and influence were kept in check. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of — leading in a way that acknowledged I did not have all the answers.

Dissenters are a valuable source of information. Too bad McGinnis forgot her own catchphrase. Perhaps to her it was just a slogan that sounded good, but not something she ever truly took to heart. Since she worked overtime to stifle my dissenting outside of a work context, one can only assume that she applies these principles inside the company as well.

Business leaders who stifle dissent almost always fail in the end. And so do authoritarian censorship regimes.

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” 
― Benjamin Franklin