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Business leaders including JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and BlackRock CEO Larry Finch have called for less division and better dialogue in their workplace following the failed assassination of former President Donald Trump.
CEOs like Dimon and Finch are among those to have emailed staff following the shooting on Saturday night, in which a spectator was killed and two others were fatally injured.
The shooter, a 20-year-old man, fired eight rounds before being killed by snipers, with Trump later stating on social media that a bullet pierced his right ear. The motivations for the shocking incident are currently unclear.
Employers have already been quick to share statements with their workforce and the wider media, including Dimon, who condemned the attempt in an internal note sent to all JP Morgan Chase staff, as revealed by Business Insider.
Dimon’s message, which was sent on behalf of the company’s leadership team called for “constructive dialogue,” asking his staff to unite against violence rather than allowing division to spiral into events such as the shooting. Dimon also added his thoughts were with Trump and the families of the other victims.
He asked staff to stand “against any acts of hate, intimidation or violence,” including those that are harmful to others, asking instead for people to engage in respectful conversation when discussing “our nation's toughest challenges.”
Countless other business leaders have joined Dimon in appealing directly to their workforce to pursue civility and respect rather than allowing division to escalate.
According to a Yahoo Finance Report, Jane Fraser, CEO of Citibank, sent a letter to employees Monday in which she stated her hopes that the shooting would be a turning point for people to “tone down the rhetoric so we can have a more civil discourse.”
Fraser advocated for her employees to rethink their choice of words when discussing polarizing topics.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, stated publicly on X that political violence is “intolerable” and asked for greater unity.
Similar sentiments were shared by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who told CNBC that Americans need to bring “our community together,” and David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, who reportedly said in a company earnings call on Monday that "we cannot afford division and distrust to get the better of us."
Employers struggle to manage growing political division
Political division has bubbled within the American workplace, ranging from disagreements on the upcoming election to vastly polarized views on the Israel-Gaza war.
Many workplaces have struggled to maintain calm and respectful discourse. Pichai’s Google, for example, scaled back messaging board features after posts about the Israel-Gaza conflict turned into angry debates – and fired 50 workers who protested the company’s cloud software contract with Israel.
Political polarization has accelerating in the US for decades, with a sharp uptick since the turn of the century.
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Historic data from the NBC News poll finds the values of Democrat and Republican parties and votes have become increasingly divided, including attitudes towards US presidents.
Some business leaders have previously attempted to ban political discussions in the workplace, but to no avail, such as Basecamp and Coinbase.
“Every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant,” explained Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, in 2021. “It’s a major distraction. It saps our energy, and redirects our dialog towards dark places.”
Techcrunch later reported that this move cost Fried roughly a third of his workforce, who accepted buyouts or quit their role. A similar move from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cost him 5% of his workforce.
