Editor’s note: Some things just shouldn’t be mixed together, like business and pleasure, or Castlevania and 3D. Gerry makes the case that you shouldn’t mix business with politics, either. He uses the recent brouhaha surrounding Stardock CEO Brad Wardell’s politically motivated decision to stop using UPS as a case study. What do you think about Wardell’s actions? -Brett
For those who aren’t aware, Stardock Corporation is a software company that provides enhancement utilities for Windows. They also publish and digitally distribute a number of great PC games, such as Sins of a Solar Empire and Demigod.
I’m a huge fan of Stardock and the way they execute the corporate ideals of their CEO, Brad Wardell — ideals which include providing polished products that aren’t laden with DRM and offering top-notch service that treats their customers like people rather than just consumers. Many of their values coincide with those we have at the company I co-own.
Unfortunately, Wardell recently made a mistake that typically only rookie executives fall for: combining your business with your personal politics.
Wardell is very conservative in his political beliefs, and, to his credit, he makes no attempt to hide that fact. He maintains a blog where he frequently details them. I’ve got no qualms with him doing that, and I’m not writing this to debate his beliefs.
What concerns me, however, is when he decided to protest a decidedly political issue with elements of the business he is charged with running. On top of that, he published his intentions and then became agitated when the Internet community called him out for doing the very thing he decried someone else for doing. This is becoming an increasingly large problem with business owners and something that I think needs to be curtailed.
First off, a bit of background: Recent news reports revealed that in protest of the increasing inflammatory rhetoric from host Glenn Beck on Fox News, the major courier company UPS pulled all their advertising from the network and possibly from the entirety of Fox Television. (UPS has since claimed that they were in fact not boycotting Fox and that new ads are already running on Fox networks.)
Wardell did not approve of UPS’s actions, stating that he didn’t like to see “companies trying to push their ideology on others.” Stardock was using UPS as the carrier for products they physically shipped to customers, but the following day, he requested his employees to start shipping with FedEx instead of UPS.
Shortly after doing this, he posted about it on his Facebook page — a comment which was quickly picked up by the gaming press and inspired a lot of anger. Many loyal customers of Stardock began calling for a boycott, saying that Wardell was endorsing the views of Glenn Beck and Fox News by dropping a company that refused to advertise on the network for supposedly political reasons.
Wardell has since blogged about the issue and the response from the gaming community. He claims his comments and actions were exaggerated. He wasn’t trying to make any major political or moral statement, he writes; he was just annoyed and decided to go with another shipper. His response was calm, thought out, and clear on the point that Stardock is his company and choosing another shipper is his prerogative, as it was for UPS to pull their ads from Fox in protest.
That said, I do think he made some very poor errors in judgment, and he seems to be a bit too eager to pass blame for this on to others.
Wardell’s company operates almost entirely off online commerce. He must be very familiar with how Internet communities work and how they tend to react to things. It was a gross oversight on his part to think that his actions wouldn’t be discovered and that the reaction wouldn’t be significant, particularly since he published his reason for switching companies.
He claims that his comments were published to a Facebook account he tries to keep private. But two sentences later, he talks about how he has roughly 350 Facebook friends. That’s an awfully large number of people to trust with a controversial subject. Anyone who is Internet savvy knows that privacy ultimately doesn’t exist online.
Wardell also wrote, “I would be the first to agree with the people who said ‘it’s not good business to publicize such things.’ Except I didn’t.” I’m sorry, sir, but yes, you did. If you write something online, there is a very good chance it will be seen by plenty of people — and some of those people will strongly disagree with you.
If what you’re posting is something you aren’t comfortable with the world knowing, then don’t post it. Decrying the media for doing their job is disingenuous, in my opinion.
All of these are merely secondary symptoms of the one core issue that Wardell unfortunately tripped over: Never mix your personal politics with your business. He was actively engaging in the very same thing he decried UPS for doing, an irony I’m not convinced that he fully appreciates.
In his blog post, he claims that one shouldn’t mix business and politics, when that is precisely what he did — without apologies. I have no formal business training, yet the necessity of keeping that separation is something I have known from the very beginning. I don’t preach politically on my company’s corporate blog or to our customers.
If Stardock was a public company, Wardell would likely be answering some very tough questions from its board of directors right now. Speaking for yourself is one thing, but speaking through the mouthpiece of your business — whether with words or actions — reflects on your operating practices, your brand image, and your staff. It is unfair to paint those who work for you with the brush of your own beliefs. I doubt Stardock will suffer much economically from this controversy, but any drop in business affects everyone there, not just the few at the top.
I still think Stardock embodies corporate values that are sorely lacking in today’s world, and this flap will not deter me from doing business with them in the future. However, I would like to urge Wardell and any other fellow business owners who might read this to really consider the value of keeping your personal views on politics or whatever else just that — personal.
It’s good to have your own ideals and fight for the world you want to see. More of us need to do that. But your business involves more than just yourself, and it is critical to make sure it doesn’t end up adopting your personal political views. Preaching politics is a surefire way to lose customers.