Psst….This is the first part of our 5-Part series on business and politics. Click on the links to read the related posts (released weekly):

How can your company’s brand advertising impact politics?
Why consider affiliating your business with political issues?
The business pros and cons of speaking out politically
14 considerations when mixing business and politics

Should you mix business and politics?

A cab driver once told me he loved to chit chat with his passengers but always avoided talking about three things

• Politics
• Religion
• Sex

Is this good advice?
The easy answer to the question of whether you should mix business and politics is: No. You’ll get this advice from most colleagues, advisors and conventional wisdom online.

Many follow these taboos, and I’ll not be the first to question them. Perhaps I’ve reached a certain age and level of self-confidence that makes me less readily conform; I have no qualms about talking about these topics with almost anyone.

With that said, I appreciate I’m in the minority (especially in circles that value propriety more than authenticity), so it’s with an open mind that I will examine the pros and cons of mixing business with politics in this article.

Should you bother mixing business and politics at all?

If anything is certain, mixing business and politics is anything but straightforward. My aim with this article is to give you an objective view of what you may want to consider before you publicly or privately reveal your political persuasion or align yourself (and your business) with any particular political position.

While I’m in the profession of giving business owners and executives advice, one thing I’ll not do is tell you what you should do concerning this topic. The choice to align your business persona with a political stance is a complicated one that depends on many factors that I will illustrate below.

In summary, I’ll discuss:

• How politics affects business.
• The pros and cons of speaking and remaining silent about politics.
• Some do’s and don’ts to mind if you choose to mix politics and business.
• My personal views on mixing business and politics.

In the wake of the surprising (to some) results of the EU Referendum and the US Presidential elections, we are all seeing and sharing a vast volume of political news lately, and people who’ve rarely considered politics necessary or interesting are now paying much closer attention to this narrative.

With the near-ubiquitousness of social media today, there’s no doubt that you’ve encountered discussions concerning politics even if you think it has nothing to do with what you typically concern yourself. As with most topics on social media, a few engage, while most observe without becoming involved.

Sooner or later, you will feel compelled to enter the fray. It may be a friend’s jarring support for a post made on Facebook. It might be an article you read online that you can’t help but share. You may feel some natural trepidation with regard to getting involved. It is for you that I write this essay.

First, let’s address the curious question: “Does business and politics influence each other?”

Does politics influence business?

The catalyst for this article was seeing someone’s LinkedIn post about Donald Trump and Theresa May’s planned trade deal meeting scheduled in London for later this year and the comments that followed.

To my surprise, many commenters agreed that business and political discussions should not mix. I disagree.

In my view, politics is a significant and sometimes unpredictable external factor that can influence business (e.g. PESTLE analysis, in which politics is the P)

“The political situation of a country affects its economic setting. The economic environment affects the business performance. For example, there are major differences in Democratic and Republican policies in the US. This influences factors like taxes and government spending, which ultimately affect the economy.”

The article I’ve linked above lists nearly two dozen factors that can influence your business. It’s extensive and mainly relates to laws.

Let there be no doubt. Politics affects nearly everything.

Too often, people imagine politics as something that has little impact on their lives. That may be true if you consider politics to be solely composed of elections and individuals arguing with each other once they’re elected. Considered more broadly, what matters about politics is not the stuff that we most often get to see or hear about. What matters is policy, taxation, regulation and law, and their short and long-term effects on almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives, and those of everyone we know.