(TL;DR–is posting something with a political viewpoint inappropriate on LinkedIn?)
I’ve been pondering how “out” to be with my political opinions on some platforms, like LinkedIn. In my personal life, it’s no mystery where I stand. In July I started a Kamala action team and gave birth to a newsletter I didn’t know needed to exist.
During the hyper-fast election, I updated the action team with news, specific actions to take, and a humorous/personal take on keeping our spirits up. The stakes of this election were so high and I wanted to make sure I did everything I could to move our country in the right direction. Now, there are so many frightening unknowns on the horizon that I can’t in good conscience step off to the sidelines.
My newsletter is called, Creative Muscle: flex yours every day in art, politics, thought, and useful rage.
Although the messaging originally focused on the election, I now want to tie together how to stay politically active and focused on what matters by maintaining our creativity and sense of joy. I am a cheerleader: I try to boost readers’ creative confidence and sustain their energy for the long fight ahead.
Having Creative Confidence matters in every aspect of life, especially when it comes to speaking out for what you believe. While it’s easy to see how creativity can impact the visual parts of our lives, from our wardrobe to our organized closets, it might not be apparent that it takes a vast amount of creative thinking–and the confidence to say your ideas out loud–to be successful changemakers.
My question today is: Do I share these newsletters with my followers on LinkedIn knowing that some of them (and others who see my posts) might not like what I have to say?
I mean, Linkedin is only about business, right?
Oh, who are we kidding? Politics in the US is intrinsically linked to every part of our lives, including our work. This is true no matter who you voted for.
Don’t do it: You’ll turn off some prospective clients
Yes, this is supposedly the reason why we don’t talk politics at work. And throughout my career I have worked with a wide variety of people, many of whom don’t think like me. I enjoyed working with them because they were all good people and I never asked, “which side are you on?”
(I did however have to gauge the risk of coming out as a lesbian and almost always felt it was worth it. The more things change…the more they stay the same?)
I now have the luxury of zeroing in on the types of work and the types of clients I want to work with. It’s simple really: I’m interested in helping grow the positive social impact made by individuals or companies. They may be cleaning up the environment, improving the global food system, coding software to make it easier to find home health care, or simply bringing joy to people through gaming or live events.
It’s about respect
If we are to have full and broadening discourse then we have to talk about the hard stuff. That requires a level of seriousness and respect. It serves no purpose when writers are mean-spirited and more interested in sounding clever than in thoughtful conversation. This is my beef with social media in general; many people posting are more concerned with being fast, than in stopping to think about the power of their words–good or bad.
It’s not weak or backing down to argue with respect. I do it all the time. Choosing our words carefully in a conversation requires that we be active listeners and the better we become at listening, the better we become at opening minds and making connections…in all parts of our lives.
(Of course, unshackled rage is fun and satisfying and I encourage you to enjoy it in the right circumstances.)
What do you think?
Share your opinion (which of course is the same thing as being political) on this matter.
Do you think it’s appropriate to post articles that are related to both business and politics? How about articles that are just about politics and thinking creatively? What about reactions to political news? Rants or raves about the government?
Do I care what you think?
I do and I don’t. I may not agree with your ideas and may choose to not follow your advice. But seriously, what’s the point of speaking with only people who agree with you?
Creative thinking is best achieved with others. While it is often true that I don’t know what I think until I write it down, more often, what I think is born from a jumble of other people’s observations and ideas that I put through my own special Rube Goldberg-style thinking machine until I pop out my own take on the subject.
Perhaps my goal with the newsletter is just to share the connections I make between disparate subjects so that you can take my views and run them through your own Goldberg-style machine.
We have to have input in order to create output, and the more varied and thoughtful the input, the more useful the output.
So here’s my input for you:
It’s vital to flex your creative muscle and be brave enough to respectfully share what you think in order to expand the conversation and make positive change.
That’s my plan. And I’m sticking with it.
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