Good Faith and the CEO

What is "good faith"? It is defined as having "honest intent", to be honest and to keep promises without taking advantage of the other person. This is a key component of the mediation experience and as a mediator who upholds the principles of "self-determination" and "voluntary", if at anytime I sense that a party is not participating honestly or is making promises that they have no intention or ability to keep, I am at the liberty to close down the mediation. However, it may be my perception of dishonest intent by one of the parties, and it is my duty to check-in with both parties to share my perception and concerns before doing so. I don't know the full history of my clients and it may be my bias that causes the perceptions of bad faith. But there are some ethical lines that I will not cross and if my clients insist upon continuing in bad faith behaviors, I will excuse myself and recommend that they seek another provider or conflict resolution process. 
In this current 2025 political era, we are experiencing bad faith by CEO's of leading retailers and organizations. These organizations pledged commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion for their business practices. They made promises to their employees to be more accepting, open and equitable; to create a workplace that was welcoming to all. Consumers who had values that aligned with these promises, supported these organizations with their hard earned dollars. Now in 2025, we see major retailers and organizations removing these pledges and aligning their business practices based solely on the political climate.
I don't know about you, but I feel taken advantage of. I supported these organizations because they aligned with my own values and took risks to be the change that valued human rights over corporate profits. CEO's and boards are now demonstrating that they did not act in good faith. Their long term intent was never to uphold these inclusive principles or weave people-first beliefs into their culture. Considering how quickly these organizations removed the human rights focus when it was not supported by political influences only demonstrates that the CEO's never had the honest intent to create real change. They have lied to their employees and they have lied to the consumers.
What can we do? Just like when I excuse myself from a mediation due to an ethical line being crossed, I excuse myself from supporting these organizations. I am not renewing membership with a certain company and choosing to purchase directly from the manufacturer or doing without (there's a concept!). I find myself shopping local which is so easy to do if you live Portland. I support employee owned organizations for my groceries and other retailers who have built their organizations from the ground with embedded diversity, equity and inclusion principles (before DEI was a label).
When we are faced with conflict, we can feel like there is nothing we can do as the other side has so much more power. However, the process of mediation balances the power even if outside the mediation door, one has more money or leverage than the other. Mediation participants are equals in the mediation process. To find power in this current climate of corporate bad faith, we can collectively use our money and memberships to express our values and build up the organizations that are acting in good faith. By this action of self-determination, we can begin to diminish the power of the CEO's and organizations who have acted in bad faith and broken their promises to both employees and consumers. 

For more information: Forbes , AZCentral