Should Politics Be Welcome in Cannabis Firms?
Political and social turmoil in North America is turning companies (including cannabis firms) into a battleground of competing opinions and ideologies. You can’t escape the spicy disagreements around the water cooler or canna-friendly social platforms like X, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Yes, strident agitators are in the minority and often cooler heads prevail. But not always. The Google, Disney, and Netflix cases are the tip of a larger iceberg. Check them out.
I’ve witnessed corporate turmoil firsthand in weed businesses around many issues ranging from who someone supports on November 5 to more prosaic concerns like remote working.
Cannabis firms are particularly vulnerable to discord.
The painful legacy of the War on Drugs continues to scar our community and spill over into corporate deliberations & decisions. Cannabis is populated by many young, social justice-oriented types who spend much of their life online. The ongoing presence of an illicit market and its progeny, the ‘roots vs suits’ dialectic keeps economic and class issues front and centre. Finally, industry problems drive worker insecurity, which can lead to greater conflict.
All of this is a recipe for workplace toxicity and bad decision making. Heres why:
1. Divisiveness reduces employee engagement.
Many workers are less likely to be engaged (or stick around) if their company is insufficiently strong on certain issues or takes positions at odds with their beliefs.
2. Polarization minimizes diversity
A Boston College study found that between 2008 and 2020 the executive teams at S&P 500 firms were more likely to be dominated by people affiliated with a single party. In effect, managers tend to recruit/seek out people who share their political views thereby creating an echo chamber.
3. Dissension reduces collaboration up & down and across the organization, reducing productivity and integration.
4. Partisanship skews decision making.
A recent study out of the Chinese University of Hong Kong finds that American managers increased investment when their preferred party gained control of the Presidency. Not surprisingly, this investing criteria did not work: it was correlated with lower valuations and profits.
Finally, overt politicking is a unnecessay distraction and could end up being a pox on your personal and corporate brand.
The negative implications extend to the gig economy. When freelancers bring their authentic but strident opinions to public forums, they repel potential clients and pollute business-oriented spaces.
In the old days, disagreements had little material impact in the workplace. Not anymore.
Bosses need to figure out how to manage in this 'new normal'.
Frankly, I am not sure how.
Do you?
#socialjustice #USelections #rootsvssuits #politics #culture #HR