Time for leaders to ... lead again.

Hit bullies early, hard, and often.

Aurora’s Mayor Coffman. JP Morgan Chase’ Jamie Dimon. Bill Gates. Former Trump Chief of Staff General John Kelly.

All are leaders who had the chance to speak out clearly and publicly on issues critical to their organizations, legacies, and the country — and instead have whispered late.

Coffman has a strong plan to re-vibe Aurora — but welcomed, then attended Trump’s hate-fest before speaking out mildly against TFG’s vilification of his city.

Gates is giving $50 mill to make sure Trump doesn’t return — but didn’t want that to be known publicly.

Dimon has indicated he supports Harris and would consider a position in her administration — but won’t say so publicly.

And General Kelly, Trump’s former Chief of Staff, waited until this week to go public with his incredibly dire warnings about the Trance Ticket.

They represent a trend that’s sadly swept the country the last 36 months.

Our institutional leaders have been beaten into silence, almost always by anti-woke, anti-climate, and anti-other well-funded right-wing interests.

Why is this bad? Silence is deadly for democracy — and that should be enough. But among other things, silence and acquiescence leads directly to declining trust in leadership and institutions:

When leaders and managers are trusted and inspirational, employees find meaning in their work, feel like part of your culture and perform better.

Speaking out is actually good for the bottom line;

Sixty-five percent of employees say companies have a “responsibility to speak up” even if an issue is sensitive or controversial – up seven percentage points since December 2022. Employee satisfaction is also higher at companies where leadership speaks up: 84 percent of employees are satisfied with their job at companies where leaders speak up about critical events and issues compared to 57 percent of employees satisfied with their job at companies where leaders do not speak up.

Leaders are worried about pushing back - -understandably, as the fate of three Ivy League Presidents — all of them women — illustrates.

But not pushing back — silence and acquiescence and satisficing ‘institutional neutrality’ gobbledygook — is NOT leadership. It’s weak, and wrong. And it doesn’t work.

Embolden bullies and we know what happens (cf. Trump I; Putin). Same for colleges and universities :

Conservatives Toppled Two College Presidents. They’re Not Done Yet.

Emboldened by takedowns of Harvard and University of Pennsylvania leaders, activists plan to keep pushing against racial-diversity programs

Ironically, the right-wing is weaponizing leadership both by attacking it in institutions they don’t like while also modeling it as male, aggressive, loud, obnoxious, hateful and anti-democratic (see; Trump, Musk).

There are counter examples. Tim Walz is a trusted, authentic outspoken leader; rather than Resident Evil, he’s a good guy, and great Governor.

Firm, clear, successful leadership based on values doesn’t require a high public profile. The top-ranked University presidents in this AEI analysis ( ‘crisis of leadership in universities’) of 450 folks in these roles are from the University of Missouri–Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology), University of San Diego, and University of Massachusetts Lowell. Walz wasn’t terribly famous in America 12 weeks ago.

The retreat by institutional leaders is costing America.

In four years I’ve seen the arc of industry commitment to DEI go from the $5 billion we were able to garner (with Vice President Harris’ leadership) toward inclusive growth from firms at the Greater Washington Partnership in 2020 to today’s wholesale DEI pull-back by too many Fortune 500 firms.

Who benefits? Not business.

DEI initiatives have been shown to boost profits, reduce employee attrition and increase employee motivation, according to Boston Consulting Group research based on data from more than 27,000 employees in 16 countries. Companies with DEI teams tend to also be more diverse. They have a higher share of Asian, Black and Hispanic employees than companies without DEI teams, according to a study by Revelio Labs, which tracks hiring trends.

Not America, which needs more leaders like these:

Ken Frazier grew up in a poor Philadelphia neighborhood as the son of a janitor and grandson of a man born into slavery. He rose to the heights of corporate America as CEO of Merck from 2011 to 2021, becoming the first Black chief executive of a major pharmaceutical company.

Ken Chenault, the CEO of American Express from 2001 to 2018, became just the third Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history at the time he took over.

…. abandoning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts could hurt the next Ken Frazier or Ken Chenault’s chances at climbing the ranks of Corporate America.

It’s past time for America’s leaders to stand-up and speak out. For the country, for their institutions, and for what’s right. It’s time for leaders to once again lead.