In today’s political landscape most businesses choose to stay FAR AWAY from Politics.
I have a question on my new client questionnaires and it asks is there anything that you don’t want us to post about? Almost always, the answer is politics and then religion is a close runner up.
I wrote about this topic in 2018. Just think about how long ago that was.
We have been through Covid and two Presidents in the US since then. It was a blog about Nike and Colin Kaepernick. You can read the full blog here but the essence is that Nike stood behind it’s athlete and even promoted his image. He was standing up or rather taking a knee, during the National Anthem in protest to the ever increasing violence against Black Americans. If you do any research on his choice to kneel, then you will know that he was actually given that advice by a Veteran after a long conversation about how they both thought about the current state of affairs for Black Americans.
Again, this was in 2018. Back then it was a BIG deal to get involved in anything political and it still is.
Why Do So Many Businesses Shy Away From Politics?
It’s simple – it’s divisive.
Some people are going to hate you because of what you say. Some people are going to love you for it.
Your business may do great. It may also go through a brutal slump.
No matter what you do as a business owner, it is a decision that you need to sleep with at night.
I was told once at a networking meeting from a gentleman named Roch Tranel, owner of a boutique and very good financial firm in IL, that he had enough friends. He was focused on business, but he would never violate his values. I’m paraphrasing here, but it stuck with me. Whether he was liked or not didn’t matter. He was going to do business the way he thought was the right way and that was his focus.
It’s 2025
We are in an unprecedented time for Americans.
For some of us, it feels like the government for the people, by the people, is being dismantled quickly and with horrifying efficiency.
For others, it is a season to celebrate and get rid of the extra waste and fraud in the government.
No matter what you believe, this is not the time to hide. This is the time to step into your values.
Find Your Tribe
A benefit to leaning into your values is that you find more people in your tribe. Your customers share your values and you often work better with those that do.
If you ask me if I am a Democrat or a Republican, I will happily tell you that I vote Democrat most of the time, but can be persuaded to vote Republican if there is a good enough reason why.
See, if you don’t share your thoughts then you can’t have a conversation…and I LOVE a good Political conversation.
Reread those words…A CONVERSATION.
I won’t tolerate someone screaming at me or someone that hasn’t done their research. Give me facts and show me your sources and I will happily go toe to toe with you all day long.
Because those are where MY values lie.
I want to learn about EVERYONE. I want to learn the WHY behind what they do and why they don’t do it. If you know the why then you can discover so much about a person, and when dealing with a business, the business owner.
The Echo Chamber – Social Media
I know better than most people that Social Media is often a self designed echo chamber. You surround yourself with like minded voices and you are never privy to the other side of the story. I believe that that does a disservice to everyone.
I was actually shocked to find out that our massive divisiveness in media was brought about by none other than Ronald Reagan. See, in 1987 there was a law called the Fairness Doctrine. It said that if you were a major news outlet that was responsible for educating the public that you had to present both sides of the story. You couldn’t lean too far conservative or too liberal. You needed to tell the truth and toe the line.
Reagan repealed this law (which had been in place since 1927) and the likes of the trusted news anchor, Walter Cronkite and Tom Brokaw faded into the past. The far right and the far left took over the news and social media certainly didn’t help the situation.
What’s a Business To Do?
We live in a divisive world. What should you do?
I can’t answer that for you. I can tell you that I told my husband to lean into his passions.
He is the most A Political man on the planet but the current administration is screwing with the part of this country that he loves the most. The US Parks. He wants to create a product at his shop that he can use all proceeds from to buy SWAG from the Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social on Bluesky, they are also on Facebook) and give it away to customers. He just wants more people to know what is happening.
Is that too political he asked me? No. Lean in.
This is the time to take a stand.
It’s time to get into some Good Trouble.
This is the time to decide what actions you will take as an individual and a business owner.
Be Kind Always
I have always been proud to be an American and today I am too often saddened by what is going on. My work will focus on contacting and helping my current reps and senators and raise the voices of those that share similar values to mine. I will even engage in discourse with those that don’t agree with me as I seek to understand how we got here.
Seek to understand. Listen and observe. Act when others cannot.
I tell my kids that they must protect those that can’t protect themselves. They must stand up when others choose to sit down. We must be willing to fight for our values and above all, I value people, kindness and using the gifts we all have to make our world a more accepting and loving place.
Be kind to each other my friends.
And share a cat or dog pic from time to time. It’s welcome relief from the daily deluge of news.