I was planning to write an uplifting piece about the “irreversible momentum of clean energy,” following on what President Obama wrote, just before leaving office, in Science Magazine.
If you want to read that piece, click here.
But given the recent events surrounding the President’s executive order on immigration, I feel compelled to write to you about something else: standing up for what is right.
At Bright Power, we have employees who were born in over a dozen countries. My employees have been coming to me – as I imagine your employees, colleagues, tenants and friends may be coming to you – scared and unsure of the security of their place in this country.
The US has long been a place that the brightest and best from around the globe seek to come, and our companies and communities are the beneficiaries of this global braintrust. This is one of the core strengths of our economy. But how can the foreign nationals in any workplace or apartment complex in America be productive if they are forced to worry if they are the next target? How can companies continue to recruit global talent if they cannot guarantee for prospective employees a safe place here?
As leaders of organizations and in our communities, we must stand up to protect those with less power and less privilege, within our organizations, communities, and beyond. We cannot simply look at this month or this quarter and, if the numbers look good, ignore what is happening in the world around us. This is about what is good for the long-term health of our businesses, but this is also about what is right.
This country – the richest in the world – has been a place of refuge for so many — in my family and probably in yours, too. People who didn’t have the privilege of education or wealth, who were chased from their homes or lucky to escape with their lives, coming here with nothing but the desire to prove they could be a productive part of this open and welcoming society; a place where we judge not by who you are or where you came from, but by what you can do.
Political decisions made haphazardly about immigration, taxation, trade agreements and use of military, to name a few, have dire consequences not just on our ability to conduct business, but on our position in the world and on the lives of people in this country and across the globe.
So I stand with other business leaders, from Google to Goldman Sachs, from Ford to GE, against ugly isolationism and xenophobia, and for the loving, inclusive, and welcoming country that has been a beacon of hope and light to my ancestors, to current immigrants and to so many around the world. And I invite you to stand with me.
Jeff Perlman
President and CEO