It is Time We Move Beyond Corporate Advocacy – A Reparative Framework for Sustainable Organizations
- Madison Tillman
- May 8
- 5 min read
As leaders, we make decisions everyday to protect the future of our organizations. The sociopolitical world we live in means it is more and more difficult to predict outcomes of these decisions. Today, stakeholders expect business to solve problems that were previously viewed as issues of public policy. We have entered an era where corporate accountability, responsibility, and advocacy are essential to organizational survival. NYU professor Alison Taylor said that a company’s voice is now a strategic asset, but that asset is only as valuable as the internal integrity backing it. Without internal work, public statements are dismissed as hollow or hypocritical.
While existing thought leadership focuses on when to speak, there is a hole in our understanding of how to address corporate wrongdoing. Corporate advocacy should not be about reacting to today’s news cycle, rather about repairing the historic wrongs that built the platforms we stand on today. In doing this internal work first, leaders can ensure that their advocacy is not a performative gesture but a meaningful step toward substantive repair.
Why reparative action?
The case for reparations rests on the premise that historical injustices, particularly the institution of slavery and its enduring legacy through systemic discrimination, have created profound and ongoing economic, social, and political disparities for Black Americans. These injustices have resulted in a significant wealth gap, limited access to opportunities, and persistent social inequalities that continue to disadvantage descendants of enslaved people. Reparations, whether in the form of direct financial payments, investments in Black communities, educational initiatives, or land redistribution are necessary. Only then can we begin to redress these historical harms, cultivate necessary collective healing, and foster a more just and equitable society for all.
This argument for reparative action at the corporate level is founded in my own family’s ties to enslaver capitalism and a personal commitment to redress. I spent the final year of the Bard MBA in Sustainability program researching my family’s history and studying existing literature on reparative action and collective healing. Though research is ongoing, I drafted a reparations plan rooted in my ancestral ties to slavery.
Reparative action at the individual, corporate, or state level must be grounded in values of radical transparency, invitation over indictment, and a belief that this work is relational, not transactional.
Author, Madison Tillman on family land in the Arkansas Delta, 2025
Reparative action at the individual, corporate, and policy level is required to disrupt the deeply embedded systems of injustice in this country. I argue that corporate engagement with reparative action is more similar to an individual than to the state. While we need policy to support nation-wide reparations programs, families and corporations that directly benefit from wealth built on the lives of enslaved people are responsible for repairing the historic harm and wrongdoing that is the foundation of their accumulation of capital. When an organization engages with this work, it builds trust and ensures long term socio-economic sustainability.
Critics may challenge this reparative framework with the argument of "ethical individualism"– the idea that current stakeholders and leaders should not be held responsible for the actions of their predecessors. Law professors, Susan Kuo and Benjamin Means say that because a corporation is a permanent entity, much like a nation, it is a legal 'person' that continues to benefit from wealth, status, and market share built on historical injustice. These foundational wrongs do not disappear when the previous board retires. If we continue to profit from the legacies of harm, we continue to carry the responsibility for repair.
As Alison Taylor identified, both internal and external stakeholders expect to see alignment between our words and actions. If we advocate for justice or equity today while sitting on a foundation of historical harm, the silence about our own history undermines our credibility. This isn't progressive politics; it is professional risk management and moral consistency.
How do we actualize a reparative framework in our organizations? – Engage with History to Shape the Future
If the prospect of engaging with reparative action seems daunting, let this framework guide you. An organization operating with a reparative lens will:
Retribution: Publicly acknowledge the specific historical harms tied to the organization.
Reparation: Direct resources toward the communities affected by these legacies.
Reform: Change the systems and structures that allowed wrongdoing to flourish.
Retribution, reparation, and reform are the objectives of this work, but deep introspection is required before these are possible. Conduct an introspective historical audit that guides this work. A historic audit should critically examine the following:
Origins
Investigate the origins of foundational capital; specifically, determine if there are links to the slave trade, colonialization, mass incarceration, war, genocide, or other historic injustices. Uncover operational history including hiring practices and promotion policies. Determine the history of the land that is home to corporate offices, warehouses, or any other infrastructure.
Legacy
In what ways does your organization benefit today from status and wealth built during periods of exploitation or extraction? Identify chapters in the organization's history that are hidden or disguised in brand storytelling.
Reparative Strategy
Identify the people and communities who have been impacted by the legacies of extraction that your organization carries. Engage them in a dialogue that centers retribution, reparation, and reform. Determine the required organizational, systemic changes to develop a strategy that aligns social advocacy with specific historic harms.
What does this look like in action? – A New York Life Case Study
New York Life has begun embedding this reparative mindset into their work. The company released public acknowledgment of the harm it caused by insuring the lives of enslaved individuals. They responded publicly to a list of common questions and made them available online for any interested party. In 2024, the company released a publication titled “New York Life’s Commitment to the Black Community.” This document is grounded in the company’s ties to slavery and demonstrates the social and economic commitments they have made to redress historic harm.
Still, there is work to be done within New York Life. In 2016, the company committed $5 million in reparations to descendants of formerly enslaved people whose lives were insured by the company. This is in contrast to the $20 million settlement the company paid out for their role in the Armenian genocide. Public response to this vast difference in financial commitment led to a public petition demanding New York Life make fair and reasonable reparations payments. New York Life is on its own journey through reparative action, but as with an individual, reparative justice is a lifelong commitment.
The time to act is now.
Sustainable leadership is no longer defined by the eloquence of a press release issued in the wake of a crisis, rather leaders are defined by the actions they take to heal the legacies they carry. If you are ready to make the shift from a reactionary culture to one focused on repair, engage external professionals to conduct a historic audit. Let these questions guide you on the journey toward authentic, transparent, and accountable corporate advocacy.
Sources
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Case for Reparations.” The Atlantic, May 21, 2014. https://web-facstaff.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Coates_Reparations.pdf.
Color of Change. “Reparations for Black Slaves from New York Life Insurance.” Petition. https://colorofchange.org/organizefor/reparations-for-black-slaves-from-new-york-life-insurance/.
Kuo, Susan S., and Benjamin Means, A Corporate Law Rationale for Reparations, 62 B.C. L.
New York Life. “Acknowledging Our Past.” https://www.newyorklife.com/newsroom/acknowledging-our-past.
New York Life Insurance Company. “New York Life’s Commitment to the Black Community.” Business Publication. 2024, https://www.newyorklife.com/assets/newsroom/docs/pdfs/nyl-commitment-to-the-black-community-9-2024.pdf.
Ray, Rashawn, and Andre M. Perry. “Why We Need Reparations for Black Americans.” Brookings, April 15, 2020. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-we-need-reparations-for-black-americans/.
Swarns, Rachel L., “Insurance Policies on Slaves: New York Life’s Complicated Past.” New York Times. Dec 18, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/us/insurance-policies-on-slaves-new-york-lifes-complicated-past.html.
Taylor, Alison. “When Should Companies Weigh In on Contentious Issues?” Harvard Business Review Podcast, February 13, 2024. Podcast, 32 min., 21 sec. https://hbr.org/podcast/2024/02/when-should-companies-weigh-in-on-contentious-issues.
