Let’s not beat around the bush here, shall we?
There’s no need for the usual “Top 5” or anything so clickbait-ish.
The most important thing to remember and actually take from this conversation is going to offend some people. No question. I know this because when it comes to issues such as these. and protecting ones reputation and brand, I’ve been knocking this down for a very long time and been told by more than a few I insulted them.
In every case, sooner or later, they all circle back and admit they should have listened.
Ready?
Here we go.
Shut up.
Seriously. Shut up. Snap the trap, Zip it. Drop all conversation. Put a sock in it.
Walk away.
The infiltration of media into our lives at such breakneck speed the last decade or so has made us all into what we like to call “citizen journalists”, or “citizen commentators”. It’s that urge we are overtaken with when it comes to something alarming, upsetting, amazing, and more often than not, little more than boorish nonsense.
Go ahead. Admit it. You’ve dialed across that smartphone more than once into your various social media accounts, tripped into something so incendiary that you ABSOLUTELY MUST (often in those same yelling capital letters) BE PART OF THIS AND TELL THE WORLD MY POINT OF VIEW BECAUSE IT’S IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW AND WILL MAKE ME FEEL SUPERIOR OR AT THE VERY LEAST A PART OF THE CROWD!!!!!
OK, sorry about the all caps. But you get my drift.
No, you don’t have to comment. No, your commentary is not going to “change the world”. No, your opinion won’t “shake things up” or even “make a difference”. That’s because it’s being injected into a media moment where the aim of many in the conversation is just to screech, scream and bellow. All of which leads to the inevitable debate, the rehash, the argument, then a permanent scar across the social media landscape that, more often than not, takes your reputation and your brand sliding into an angry digital sewer.
Makes no difference where you post it. The juvenile fun-time of Facebook. The “look at me” videos of Instagram or TikTok. The scorched Earth battleground that is Twitter/X/“Whatever is on the masthead at any given time”. Especially on LinkedIn, which is supposed to be all about breaking digital bread with the globe over business opportunities and professional education.
Sadly, LinkedIn is becoming just as much a political battleground as all the rest, which is something you need to take into serious account if you do business there.
When you spit and spew about politics, be it Trump, Joe Biden, Republican, Democrat, Left, Right, Whackaloon somewhere off the beaten path, you are telling everyone what you believe in. You are thus permanently marked with that opinion. In doing so, you are taking a real chance at pissing off an entire facet of the audience.
Stop. Hold. Think. You don't have to do this. You don't have to mix politics with business.
You will get under someone’s skin. You will make enemies. You will damage your brand, personally and professionally. Now, you may snap back with, “I know there are people out there who agree with me, and that is the faction I want to identify with, do business with, stake my professional success and profitability on for the rest of recorded time”.
OK then, own it. You got it. You just blasted out to the entire planet, (yes, this means all of Earth), comments and opinions that are yours to own forever.
Especially to those who don’t agree with you. The people who might have been your clients. The people who could be your superiors. The groups that could one day hold your professional lives in their hands when it comes to employment decisions. The HR Manager who has zero trouble tracking down everything and anything from social media with your name it, whether printed or said yesterday or 15 years ago.
They will see your anger, your intolerance, your raging into the teeth of the public machine, and they will judge you.
And you are powerless to stop them from passing that judgement and deciding your future.
Powerless because you slapped it out there, all righteous and indignant.
Is it really worth that chance? Is that how you want to “live on the edge”? Is it worth dropping a permanent hammer on your brand, your reputation, your leadership skills personally and professionally?
Is it worth the damage to abandon more than half of the audience you want to reach?
In moments such as this, perhaps to soften the “shut up” blow, I will instead paraphrase that sage and wise leader of (certain) men, Don Vito Corleone, as channeled by Marlon Brando in “The Godfather”.
Or tell them everything. Your choice. Success or consequences.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
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