I’ve had several conversations in the past few weeks with contacts at large, US-headquartered, global companies and the conversation always turned to whether (or not) they speak internally about the relatively new US administration and changes to areas including DEI and international trade it is ushering in.

Each time, I heard – from quite senior people – that people are keeping their heads down, not mentioning the “T” word. “It’s too political. Maybe it’s a board-level matter — but outside board meetings,” said one contact.

But change appears to be afoot. Our largest clients in tech, telecoms and professional services know that they have a responsibility to their customers and clients to make sense of complexity. As Economist editor in chief Zanny Minton Beddoes said a couple of Fridays back: “This shift is so extreme and unfamiliar that it is tempting to deny it is happening. However, denial is not a plan.”

And who wants their advisors and vendors not to be sense-makers? Maybe not every supplier, but if you’ve hired bright minds with ideas, now is the time to expect them to step up.

The alternative isn’t as safe as people think.

Digiday put out a piece last week entitled ‘They’re like Switzerland’: Brands walk  a tightrope between authenticity and political backlash’. And yes, it was more about brands such as Nike showing their feminist credentials rather than huge corporations with multi-billion dollar US government contracts at risk. But the point was that customers will eventually pick up on any company that isn’t true to its stated values.

Liberation daze?

This week’s events might have arguably made things a little easier for the kind of companies I’m talking about. Many will be forced out of a holding pattern.

Rather than being seen to take sides in culture wars though, we can be open about facing the reality, or at least the real possibility, of huge changes in trade relations for the first time in our lives.

For large B2B businesses, this should be safe ground. Not easy, for sure. But whether coming at it from a consulting, technology or legal starting point, helping everyone do business and stay profitable is a fairly neutral endeavour, but for the most ardent anti-capitalist.

Large organisations, already with sophisticated ways of using content to demonstrate their worth, must step up like never before, to think and to lead. That would be the best type of thought leadership, at the time when it’s most needed.