Political polarization and cultural tension aren’t just social problems, for small business owners, they’re bottom-line issues, according to Corey Nathan, podcast host of Talkin Politics & Religion Without Killing Each Other and founder of Scan Media.
Nathan, who has built businesses across industries ranging from window cleaning and mobile detailing to entertainment-focused mergers and acquisitions, joins us in the latest episode of Business Trends Today to discuss how today’s divided environment is showing up inside companies and what leaders can do about it.
“There are some companies that in their culture, culture is in their DNA, being aware of it and creating a space where folks walk into the… place of business, and they just want to be there,” Nathan said.
Additionally, Nathan suggests that companies navigating division most effectively share a common thread; they prioritize the human beings on their teams, not just the mission or the profit-and-loss statement.
"But when you prioritize the people and understanding the human beings, that's what separates good from great, if you will. And developing those relationships and nurturing those relationships, leading your people and allowing them to grow within your company. I think that's what makes special companies really separate."
For leaders managing employees with opposing viewpoints, Nathan recommends a shift in mindset before difficult conversations even begin. Rather than entering discussions prepared to score rhetorical points, he advises leaders to arrive with openness. He then draws on frameworks from authors such as David Brooks and Monica Guzman, whose book I Never Thought of It That Way, Nathan calls a personal compass.
On the customer side, Nathan said brand protection starts with recognizing the breadth of your audience. Invoking the famous quip attributed to Michael Jordan, “Republicans buy sneakers too,” Nathan warned that narrowing a business’s field of vision based on political alignment is a costly mistake.
“Whether somebody’s Republican, Democrat, or independent, they got windows. They want [them clean],” Nathan said.
Nevertheless, Nathan pushes back on the conventional wisdom that politics and religion should be entirely off-limits in professional settings, citing a 2018 study by the research organization More in Common titled Hidden Tribes. The report found that roughly 85% of Americans fall into what researchers call the “exhausted majority,” in which people are neither extreme nor well represented in public discourse.
ASBN, from startup to success, we are your go-to resource for small business news, expert advice, information, and event coverage.
