How Companies Reckon with Past Wrongdoing

Sarah Federman, assistant professor at the University of Baltimore,
studies how companies handle their historical misdeeds and what
that means for employees and customers. From insurance firms that
backed slave owners to railroad companies that transported victims
of the Holocaust, many legacy companies can find they played a role
in past transgressions. Federman makes a moral and practical
argument for uncovering and addressing these misdeeds, even though
there may no longer be legal repercussions. And she shares how some
leaders have been transparent, apologized, and found meaningful
ways to make up for their organization's difficult history.
Federman wrote the HBR article “How Companies Can Address Their
Historical Transgressions: Lessons from the Slave Trade and the
Holocaust.”