Viewpoint BY STEVEN DYME


THE FLORAL BUSINESS AUTHORITY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2026 | VOLUME 43 | NUMBER 5


AMANDA JEDLINSKY EDITOR IN CHIEF AJEDLINSKY@SAFNOW.ORG


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ON SPEAKING UP > As political and social issues increas- ingly affect their employees, customers and communities, business owners face a question: Do we say something, or do we stay on the sidelines? At Flowers for Dreams, the sidelines


are more uncomfortable than the playing field. We have used our social media platforms to speak openly about what I believe is the erosion of civil rights, environmental concerns, immigration policies and other events affecting our employees and communities. Those posts leave little doubt about where we stand, but I am no fool. Taking a stand carries real financial risks. For decades, consumers expected


businesses to stay out of politics and issues of justice or equality. Speaking up was considered bad business, likely to alienate customers. Somewhere along the way, that expectation changed dramatically. Some trace the turning point to the


rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, or the protests that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020. I believe the shift was seeded earlier, during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, and then became especially visible in the anti-apartheid campaigns of the 1970s and ’80s. Whenever the turning point occurred, the expectation that busi- nesses will reveal what they stand for has become a pervasive and unavoidable part of the marketplace. Recent research supports that belief: 


In Edelman’s 2024 Trust Barometer survey, 84% of consumers said they needed to share a brand’s values to buy from it.





A 2023 survey by PwC, a global accounting and consulting firm, found that 66% of business executives believed taking a public position on social issues builds trust with customers, while 69% said it builds trust with employees.


When an issue directly intersects


with your company’s values, purpose, employees or community, I believe


2 FLORAL MANAGEMENT | November/December 2026 | WWW.SAFNOW.ORG


silence can carry risks of its own. Business owners should speak gen- uinely, drawing a clear distinction between activism and apathy — and between real advocacy for their people and opportunistic performance for social media likes. In building Flowers for Dreams, I’ve


always believed our community and our product are inextricably linked. One cannot exist without the other. The notion that businesses can operate inde- pendently of their communities is deeply flawed. It is civic disengagement. Not every business owner will share


my views on these issues, and not every company will decide that speaking publicly is the right approach. But every business has values — reflected in how it treats employees, serves customers and participates in its community. The ques- tion is: Are we willing to be clear about those values when they matter? I believe flower shop owners, wholesalers and members of the floral industry should speak up and re-engage. The civil rights era showed that business policies could perpetuate inequality. Anti-apartheid activism demonstrated that corporate money could perpetuate injustice. Black Lives Matter showed that silence could itself become a toxic statement. Today, consumers increasingly assume that everything a business does — or doesn’t do — reveals something about what it believes. If you claim that you or your business


stands for something, a moment will inevitably come when you must decide whether you mean it. That moment might be here now. Will you speak up or stay on the sidelines?


Steven Dyme is the CEO and co-founder of Flowers for Dreams, a floral company that donates a portion of its profits to local charities and speaks publicly about immigration policy, civil rights and other issues affecting its employees and communities.


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