A Conversation with Ed Stack, Chairman and CEO of DICK'S Sporting Goods

Sustaining Capitalism

Ed Stack, Chairman and CEO of DICK'S Sporting Goods and a 2020 Distinguished Performance Awardee, spoke to CED President Lori Murray for the “Leadership in Challenging Times” series and discussed COVID’s effect on small businesses, the future of the workplace and the failure of national political leadership to handle it.

“There’s kind of a helplessness – that people can’t do anything about it,” he said. “We’ve got so many issues in the country and we seem to be somewhat rudderless from a leadership standpoint.” The solution, he said, is for business leaders to “raise our voice and call on Congress and the leadership in Washington to put their partisan issues aside and do what’s really right for main street America.”

Stack told Murray that the pandemic has been especially hard on the nation’s children because of the extra layers of complication from school closings and virtual learning. “Kids are our nation’s most precious natural resource. And we don’t invest in the kids nearly enough,” Stack underscored.