Business Leadership: Politics and Business Are Never a Good Mix

We are still suffering the effects of one of the most brutal political seasons in American history. People’s emotions, as a result of the political climate, are running at 110% above what is considered normal. Friendships, families and other relationships are being ripped apart because of opposing political loyalties. There is a great deal of talk about healing our divided nation, and we know it is the right thing to do to move forward. However, the call of unity is falling on deaf ears. The most troubling trend of this volatile environment is that business leadership feels empowered to bring political ideology into the workplace.

Business Leadership Empowering Political Ideology

We have seen during these tough times high profile and Fortune 500 business leaders bringing their political ideology into the workplace. There are documented cases emerging from the workplaces across this country where people are being ostracized, professionally limited or losing their jobs as a result of their political views. It was demonstrated, after the election, that people were afraid to voice their honest opinion to pollsters when asked. We know that this withholding of their true position led the pollsters to provide results that were clearly not accurate! That same fear has permeated the American workforce. It is being fueled by the prominent business leaders who are espousing political positions and communicating to their workforce that if they do not share these beliefs, they should not be part of the organization. Than cannot be described as anything less than foolish folly!

Business Leadership Must Unite

This isn’t a completely unique situation. There have been instances throughout history where business leadership brings into the workplace volatile political viewpoints, thus imposing those views heavily on their workforce. Those situations have consistently resulted in the failure of business leadership and damage to the organization.

The problem with looking at past versus present situations is that the current environment is occurring on a much larger scale and are become destructive. Current business leadership must take a deep breath and step back from their political ideologies being imposed in the workforce. This behavior can only result in a fearful workforce and damaged business leadership and organizations. It is time to get back to the business of business and leave political ideologies in the workplace in the trash heap, where it originated.