I love my boss. Seriously.

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

I have to take a second to say how awesome my boss is. He always has been but something particularly cool happened today. Now remember, we work for a really big, mega-corporation where most or all of our executives are Republicans. During the past 12 years, I have been in many a meeting where a department head has shared his or her unsolicited opinion on politics with the rank and file. Those of us who are Democrats basically smile and keep quiet because expressing a political opinion that your executive doesn't agree with can be a career-ender. Today Dave (my boss) and I were in a meeting with an officer. The officer started ranting a bit, going off on how bad he thinks things will be if Obama gets in and we get a Democratic congress. (I'm silently going, 'Yeah, because life for the last 8 years has been a real paradise here with endless wars, a huge deficit, government-funded abstinence-only programs that result in more teen pregnancy, the health care crisis worsening, etc, etc'). Dave actually spoke up! He said that he was a Democrat and that his views were more on the liberal side. He didn't debate him but he voiced his views.

Wow! At my company you just don't identify as a Democrat, not in front of an executive, and you really don't use the dreaded "L" word to describe yourself. I admire Dave so much for speaking his mind. I told him so after the meeting but he didn't seem to think it was such a big deal. I'm really lucky to work with him.

Comments

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

If people in an organisation have the ability to express their own political views to all and sundry, they should either allow anyone to express their own, or have the courtesy to STFU if they are in a position of authority and their subordinates could see it as career-limiting if they expressed their own views.

Good on your colleague for speaking up. In future, if these execs start mouthing off, would it be possible to say, extremely politely, "Not all of us feel the same way about these issues; perhaps we should leave politics out of the working environment?"

I agree that debating their views would be pointless, not to say dangerous, but I also think if you have to censor your expression of your politics, so should they. Maybe it wouldn't go amiss to remind them of that basic politeness.

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

I do totally agree. It's just very hard because usually the people expressing their (conservative) opinions are way high up on the totem pole so they generally think they can say whatever they want. And they tend to be the ones who make hiring, firing, promotion, and performance review decisions. :(

[zooey-glass04.livejournal.com]

Yeay yeay! Your boss rules :D *cheers him on*

You rule also - for all you might not explicitly identify as a Democrat in front of big bosses, it seems to me that your work to represent people within the organisation outs you pretty effectively. So you're braver than you think!

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) I generally won't talk politics at work with higher-ups but I figure just being out as a lesbian does count for something.

[carynsilver.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!

I swear, it seems like you can't go anywhere these days without stepping in a political land mine. :-P Way to go Dave for standing up for his beliefs!

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

:-)

[nytshd3.livejournal.com]

awww thats kewl. also, i think its good for folks who might find that they are politically in the minority (based on where they work, live, etc) to know who they can talk to about that type of stuff.