Open-Mic: Ethics or Optics? When Corporate Purpose Becomes a Performance

*This is a recorded event. Those who speak "on stage" will be featured in the resulting WorkCookie Podcast and WorkCookie Video Podcast episodes.

Description: We'll critically examine the recent open letter signed by more than 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies and respectfully ask deeper ethical questions: When does corporate purpose cross the line into purpose-washing? Through an I-O psychology lens, we explore how ethics can be diluted when leadership behavior prioritizes reputational safety, consensus signaling, and risk avoidance over psychological safety, moral courage, and meaningful action. This discussion focuses on ethical climate, moral disengagement, and the psychological consequences for employees when leadership values are communicated symbolically but not enacted behaviorally. Listeners will gain insight into how performative ethics erode trust, disengage employees, and undermine long-term organizational credibility, and what ethical leadership looks like when it requires discomfort, accountability, and real tradeoffs. Whether you're an I/O professional, a student, or someone intereste…