Business and politics don’t mix … right?
If you don’t run a partisan organization, then politics has nothing to do with your business … right?
And you should never be one of those people who post their political opinions on LinkedIn …right?
Wrong!
The way I see it, politics has a huge impact on business. And the election results are absolutely important to acknowledge in your thought leadership.
Why?
The one-word answer: Values.
Your values might not determine what you do for work, but they definitely guide how you do your work.
Here’s how I define thought leadership:
“Thought leadership is a virtuous cycle that helps leaders reflect on what they know, share their insights and unique perspectives, and then invest that insight back into their business. It’s also the most efficient, transparent, and helpful way to show others — customers, prospects, the wider industry, and even your own employees — how you think and your vision for the future.”
Transparently sharing how you think and your vision for the future. At its core, thought leadership is about understanding yourself (your ideas and experiences, filtered through your values) and then communicating those ideas, experiences, and values with others.
Even if you’re “not a political person” or don’t feel comfortable endorsing political candidates on LinkedIn, there’s still real value in understanding and communicating your values as a working, thinking person. Because your ideas about ERP modernization or leadership or AI aren’t separate from your values, they’re enmeshed with them. Your values inform how you think, what you prioritize, and how you make decisions.
Know your values
In the days after the election, when I was feeling bleak, I needed some guideposts to keep me moving forward. Why, exactly, was I feeling so heartbroken? What were the values that felt most attacked?
So I used The New Happy’s values wheel exercise to help me turn inward and identify the values that are most important to me. The exercise prompts you to review a long list of values and choose 20 that mean the most. Then you narrow to 10 values. From that winnowed-down list, you choose the top 5 values that matter the most to you.
My top 5 values were: Giving, Kindness, Respect for Others, Honesty, and Humility.
The list of ~100 values covers a wide range, including values I don’t care about at all (Competition) and many that I don’t personally hold dear but that people in my close circle do: Fairness, Boldness, and Reputation, for example.
Naming my key values helped me understand the way I was feeling. Those 5 values describe the lens I use to see the world, including my work.
Align your actions with your values
Once you’ve identified your key values, your words and actions can flow through that value lens.
To give you some examples, I’ve been closely watching how people are thinking in public right now. The people I’m most impressed with are aligned, meaning their words and actions clearly match their values. They’re not keeping their opinions to themselves.
Speak honestly
Over at Harvard Business Review, Amy Gallo is continuing to give a master class in living by your values.
Amy sent an email newsletter this week to the Women at Work community.
- She was honest about how she was feeling (disappointed).
- She reminded readers of her mission (“Our mission with Women at Work is to ‘help women make sense of our experiences, speak up and speak out, go after what we want and need, get through tough times, understand and learn from one another’s challenges, take care of ourselves, and shine’— and that’s what we’ll continue to do”).
- She pointed her readers to resources.
- She shared her reflections (“This election was a reminder that progress is not guaranteed”) and a call to action from new gender equity research: “If we want daughters to have it better than their mothers and grandmothers, we need to take off our rose-colored glasses and roll up our sleeves.”
Recognize your power
Brea Starmer, founder of the innovative staffing firm Lions & Tigers, calls on leaders, independent workers, and everyone to “recognize the power we have — and work to get more of it.”
Here’s her list of specific actions that align with values:
Use your power
I know he’s a divisive figure, but Reid Hoffman (cofounder of LinkedIn/venture capitalist/billionaire) has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump’s anti-democracy actions. His LinkedIn bio currently starts with:
My two current priorities are: (1) using AI to benefit humanity and (2) protecting US democracy.
He shared his thoughts freely before the election, and continues to do so. After the election, he posted:
“What matters today is the same as what mattered last week. How do we come together to build a better future for the broad society of Americans?”
He’s a man of privilege and power, and at least in this case, he’s using it. Someone in the comments of his post thanked him for “not pre-obeying Trump like other leaders are,” and that sentiment resonated with me.
Post-election, I see a lot of people changing their tune, backing down, or just staying quiet while they wait and see what happens. If that’s the path you’re taking, ask yourself: does that course of action align with your values?
Friends, I don’t have all the answers about how to move forward, run a business, or exist as a human who values honesty and respect for others while also living in a country with Trump at the helm. But I’m going to keep earnestly trying, and I’ll be cheering you on as you do the same. 💙
