ABSTRACT
Advocacy may involve Collaboration with others. Especially as ideas amplified by Advocacy mature and are more widely socialized, Advocacy may even morph into Collaboration. The nature of Advocacy has continued to evolve in near parallel to our leadership eras. Solitary trailblazers owned the Harm Reduction Era and coalitions the Strategic Integration period. While applauding CEOs who take clear personal stands for engaging in public discourse and being transparent, only when Advocacy aligns with company Purpose, Plan, Culture, and overall direction is it really credible, enduring, and impactful. A specific example of Advocacy for system change on a social issue where the immediate benefit to the company behind it was limited comes from Australia in the early 2000s. Advocacy needs to be carefully contextualized. It should reflect the Purpose, Plan, and Culture of the business so that employees, customers, shareholders, governments, and publics will have less justification for objecting to it.
