Do Politics and Business Mix?

While the Presidential election in the United States is attracting considerable interest around the world, the Canadian federal election campaign is heating up here in Canada. Yesterday I received an email from a local business owner. She was urging locals to vote for the Green Party candidate who is running second and is the only one with a chance to defeat the incumbent Conservative candidate.

My first thought was that this was a risky move: a mistake. Although this business owner has deep roots in the community and a well-established and well-loved business, using her business to promote her political views might turn people off. During these uncertain economic times, is it worth alienating any of your customer base to promote you own personal views?

But then I remembered a time I had done the same thing. Many years ago my husband and I ran a computer store. We were new to the community, had been in business less than a year and were still struggling to become known. The local teachers went on strike. As a daughter of two retired public school teachers, I was well versed on the issues and fully supported what the teachers were doing. While we worried about whether driving away customers, we wanted to express our support of the teachers.

After much discussion we decided to bring coffee to the teachers on the picket line, and to make sure people knew it was from the store. I was scared of the impact it might have on our bottom line but felt it necessary to speak my mind.

We approached a local donut shop about getting a coffee urn. To our delight the owner was excited about what we were doing, gave us the coffee at half price and sent along enough donuts for everyone as well. Over the course of the strike I think we hit four or five different schools with coffee and donuts for everyone.

In the end, the impact to our bottom line was positive. Once the strike was over, for the next couple of years, any teacher buying a computer came to our store. Most made a point of telling us they didn’t look elsewhere because of our support of them. Several principals of local schools purchased computers for their school from us. It’s possible some people decided not to shop with us as a result of our stand, but we never heard about it.

So, do politics and business mix?

I still think it’s a risky move. However, when you have a small business – a micro business – I don’t think you can easily separate the business you from the personal you and the political you. You pour your heart and soul into your business to make it a success. When something arises that you need to speak out about, I don’t think you can keep quiet just because you worry about your business. You need to remain true to the authentic you.

And ultimately isn’t that what democracy is about? It’s easy to take a stand when there’s nothing at stake. It’s when you have something to lose that taking a stand matters most.

Andrea J. Stenberg

I’d love to hear what you think? Should you use your business to help make a political statement? Or is politics and business like oil and water – they just don’t mix? Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.