Author: Camilla Taylor, ASBN Executive Director
Editor: Anayana White, ASBN Head of Communications
Camilla Taylor is the Executive Director of the American Sustainable Business Network. She is a globally renowned leader focused on changing economic systems into stakeholder-driven economies.
Nope. Nope, nope, nope.
That is the exact phrase running through my mind most mornings when I glance at my New York Times alerts. A new crisis brewing abroad. It’s a new suspected plague outbreak in Russia this week. Late-night presidential posts on social media. Data centers expanding across the landscape with growing demands for energy, while researchers inside AI companies warn that AI could wipe out humanity within the decade, even as we are told we still must adopt it immediately. Then, right in the middle of processing global destabilization, a text pings from my son’s school: today is “dress up as your favorite author” for my fourth grader, and he needs to be out the door in 15 minutes. Fantastic.
It all feels completely out of control. It isn’t entirely, but it certainly feels that way.
That feeling brought back a vivid memory from my childhood, playing under my dad’s desk. At the time, he was leading our family’s small fourth-generation real estate business in Maryland. There was a local zoning debate brewing that threatened small, local businesses. My dad held a firm conviction: a thriving local economy depended on proximity. He wanted to build commercial spaces where small business owners could work within a couple of miles of their homes. To him, the closer you were to your work, the more deeply invested you would be in bettering your community.
The zoning commission didn’t see it that way. They wanted outside corporate investment. Although my dad was serving as president of the local Chamber of Commerce, he knew institutional titles weren’t enough to protect the local economy.
His solution was simple and direct: hold local elected officials publicly accountable. He invited every local business owner he knew out to our family farm every few weeks. When election season rolled around, candidates and county council members would come to those farm gatherings and stand before our community. Some made commitments. More often, they answered for promises they had broken and worked with local business leaders to build a new path if they wanted to win elections. For my father, protecting that connection between small business owners and their neighborhoods wasn’t just good business; it was about protecting his legacy and leaving behind a thriving community.
Watching previous generations build a business that not only put my cousins and me through college, but also shaped the fabric of our community, taught me a foundational lesson. I saw firsthand the direct impact, for better or worse, that business owners have on people and the planet. That is why I lead the American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) today. I know the sheer potential and the quiet terror that comes with taking your family’s future into your own hands and running a business. I also know the added pressure of choosing to run that business according to higher ethical standards.
Having responsibility isn’t scary; owning your responsibility is.
My dad never shied away from that duty. It kept him up at night and turned his hair grey long before its time, but he lived a simple truth: If you can help, you help. If you hold the privilege of leadership and responsibility, it is your duty to stand up for those who aren’t being heard.
It is so easy to look at our current moment of endless chaotic headlines, the noise, the demands, the cost of living that seems to be growing every week and simply throw our hands up in defeat. But my dad didn’t surrender his agency to a zoning board, and we cannot afford to surrender ours now. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. I cannot tell you what is going to happen. We know polling is rarely a full picture of how Americans actually vote. We know political advertisers have already spent about $7 billion this cycle, roughly $2 billion more than at the same point in the 2022 midterms, according to AdImpact. That is an astronomical amount of money working in the background to make decisions for us.
More importantly, none of us can predict what happens the day after the election. Will newly elected leaders step up and work for the American people? Will they stabilize economic uncertainty, tackle inflation, and protect workers? Will they enact the sensible regulations we so desperately need around emerging technologies like AI? Anyone claiming to know the answer is confusing an opinion with a fact.
What we do know is that our democratic system gives us a window to shape what happens next in our own corner of the world, and no matter what happens on Election Day, the sun will come up the next day, and we will continue on.
Here is the stark reality every business leader must confront: this election will happen with or without your participation. Opting out of casting a ballot does not mean you opt out of the consequences.
The policy decisions made on election day will shape your local economy, tax structures, workforce stability, supply chains, and regulatory landscape whether you show up or stay home. Sitting on the sidelines isn’t neutrality; it is simply surrendering your decision-making power to someone else and accepting whatever rules they write for your business and community.
When ASBN launched Businesses United in Leading Democracy (BUILD), we initially designed it as a nonpartisan framework for business leaders to encourage civic engagement across their organizations and communities. BUILD is ASBN’s nonpartisan civic engagement framework that helps business leaders evaluate candidates on security, affordability, and opportunity. We have been thrilled by the response, and we are already planning its expansion for future election cycles.
But right now, BUILD serves an even more immediate purpose. Think of it as the modern, digital equivalent of my father’s farm gatherings. It is a reflection tool for you, the business leader.
Before you cast your vote, BUILD offers a framework to pause, evaluate the records of those who represent you, and reflect on what you and your community truly need. Don’t just evaluate the affordability, security, and opportunities your own enterprise has experienced over the last two years. Think about the broader ecosystem of leaders around you—the single parent striving to keep a business afloat, the business owner of color fighting for access to capital, or the aspiring young entrepreneur trying to launch amidst tariffs and policy whiplash. How can you use your voice and your vote to lift them up, too?
When my father stood up for small businesses in our community, he did it out of a sense of duty. He wasn’t thinking about the lesson he was giving the little girl playing with Barbies under his desk. But that example shaped my life. As a business leader, people are watching, learning, and drawing inspiration from you.
We are down to the wire. I encourage you right now to open the BUILD Resource Hub.
Use these tools to reflect on the outcomes you want to see for your business and community, evaluate your representatives’ records, and ensure your vote reflects the leadership your community deserves.
Let’s own our responsibility, and let’s vote loudly.
ASBN works year-round to give business leaders a voice in policy. With our members and state affiliates, our network collectively represents 200,000+ businesses.
Find out who your representatives are here!
BUILD (Businesses United in Leading Democracy) is ASBN's nonpartisan civic engagement framework that helps business leaders evaluate candidates on security, affordability, and opportunity.
Download the resources in the BUILD Resource Hub for free, and go through the Tell Your Story exercise, it’s the most important step.
Watch the BUILD Tell Your Story training for free on ASBN’s Youtube channel.
###
About American Sustainable Business Network
American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) amplifies the collective voice of sustainable business to lead the way to a regenerative economy that is stakeholder-driven, just, and prosperous. As a multi-issue, membership organization advocating on behalf of every business sector, size, and geography, ASBN works to advance its mission to inform, connect, and mobilize sustainable business leaders, transforming the public and private sectors toward a just and regenerative economy.