'Zero no-go topics' | Ben & Jerry's executive 'war for wokeness' - should modern leaders be woke?

• Ben & Jerry's CEO Matthew McCarthy this week spoke out about leaders' responsibility to ethics, and confirmed that for the company, no subject was 'off the table'.

• Yet Alan Jope, CEO of parent company Unilever, was quick to distance himself and the company from the comments, stating 'we're not woke'. 

• So where should leaders place themselves on the woke spectrum? Are leaders expected to be woke in the modern age, or is 'wokeness' a corporate dirty word? 

Depending on your outlook as a leader, wokeness could either be considered a derogatory term, or a compliment. Undoubtedly, the past few years have raised the profile of the concept, which essentially translates to a state of being acutely aware of social, racial and justice issues, including wealth distribution and equality. Whilst it could be argued that all leaders should have the above on their agenda, the term is also a weighted one. It’s favoured by the right wing as a term to describe the hard left – especially when coupled with either ‘snowflakes’ or ‘warriors’.