There was a time (not so long ago) when businesses and employees simply worked to earn a living by providing a good or service to their customers. Today, there is a broad sweeping narrative that this is not enough. Businesses (and business students) are told that ALL businesses need to “take a stand” and “have an impact.” Although we (#B4BS) are not opposed to businesses working to create positive change (defined as “social impact businesses”), we believe, and promote the idea, that most businesses are best served by refraining from open participation in any social agendas.
Over the last couple months I have been reflecting on “the good ‘ol days” when I didn’t have to choose what business I wanted to support based on their stance on the social issue of the day. It occurred to me one day, that I’m probably not alone. It’s likely that a large number of customers and employees feel betrayed by companies that openly support one side of complicated issues. It doesn’t really matter what side of the argument they support, it is the fact that they are choosing to openly participate in a controversial social issue that has nothing to do with the product or service that they provide. This forces employees and customers who don’t agree with the stance taken by the company to choose whether they want to indirectly support the cause by supporting the company, or potentially take a stance against the cause and choose not to do business with that company.
As I began to discuss this issue with friends and family, it started to become apparent that everyone shared the frustration, but no one knew what could practically be done about it. I watched as friendships became divided over conflicting views of “social issues” that more often than not were manipulated by the media. I saw small businesses get shut down when the employees turned on the owners/proprietors because they wouldn’t support a current social agenda. Finally, I saw small “side hustle” online businesses blackmailed by customers who demanded that they show support in a specified way, or lose customers and get slandered in online reviews.
The more I analyzed this issue, the more I realized that something needed to be done to stop the insanity. Social issues are an important part of transforming our communities and everyone needs to participate in creating positive change. That said however, these activities (for the most part) don’t belong in the workplace. I finally decided that there was no excuse for not taking the initiative to try to be a catalyst for positive change myself. Thinking about how things had changed so quickly over the past few years, I realized the only way to counter this wave of social division is to create a counter movement to promote the idea that abstaining from open participation in social agendas is both a responsible business practice and great way to start mending the divisions that have been aggressively spread through our communities.
Thus began the initiative to create #Business4BusinessSake. We want to get businesses back to the practice of serving ALL customers, and avoiding the pitfall of choosing sides in social agendas. We want to help provide the resources needed to operate in freedom the way things used to be…back before political correctness and social agendas dictated the conversation. ~Aaron McAdow
