Nike CEO John Donahoe was interviewed by Sara Eisen at the CNBC Board of Directors Summit in Santa Barbara, CA.
Randy Shropshire | CNBC
While the political battle rages between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney, Nike CEO John Donahoe said it was necessary for companies to decide on their battles but fight for values integral to their brands.
During an interview at the inaugural CNBC CEO Council Summit in Santa Barbara, California, on Monday night, CNBC’s Sara Eisen addressed the DeSantis controversy and asked Donahoe if she was fearful about Nike becoming a goal.
“Aren’t you fearful that if Ron DeSantis becomes president, he’ll follow you as an woke up corporation?” Eisen asked Donahoe about the expected Republican presidential candidate.
In response, Donahoe said firms do not have to be involved in every political turmoil, but they need to speak up when their brand values are under attack.
“I believe Bob does an ideal job with it,” Donahoe said of Disney CEO Bob Iger.
“If it’s central to who you’re and what your values are, then no, you are defending your values,” he said. “If it’s commenting on some political issue that is in someone’s backyard, we could have that private feeling, but we’re not commenting on it with our brand and publicly.”
Iger didn’t lead Disney when, in February 2022, he publicly denounced a controversial Florida Republican bill restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation, which he and other critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay”.
His tweet the bill “will put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in danger” put more pressure on then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek to interrupt his silence about the laws.
After Disney moved against the bill, DeSantis and his allies attacked the special tax district in the Orlando area that had allowed Walt Disney World to essentially run its operations on its own for many years. The conflict has been going on for greater than a yr now and continues even after Iger returned to CEO in November following Chapek’s removal.
Donahoe pointed to 3 values which might be integral to the Nike brand: racial and social justice, sustainability, and the involvement of youth in sport, especially young girls.
Regarding racial and social justice, Donahoe said Nike built its brand in partnership with a few of the most iconic black and brown athletes in history, resembling Michael Jordan, Serena Williams and LeBron James.
“As well as, our primary consumers of Nike, Jordan Brand, Converse brands are black and brown urban communities – that is where the sneaker culture began,” explained Donahoe. “So we hearken to our athletes and our consumers about what they care about, and they care about racial and social justice, so we see that as the core of who we’re, the core of our identity … so it gives us somewhat more courage to talk up.”
The corporate has focused on youth involvement in sports as young girls are dropping out of athletics at an “alarming rate,” Donahoe said.
“It seems that considered one of the essential reasons girls drop out is because they do not have coaches after they hit puberty,” Donahoe said. “So we’re attempting to train 20,000 female coaches, moms and other former athletes to be youth-promoting coaches. So it is a less controversial issue, nevertheless it’s something we care about as a price.”
On sustainability, Donahoe said that as an “industry leader” Nike has to guide by example because if it doesn’t occur, “it is not going to occur.”