Astute business people generally do not make their political views widely known, because they realize that about half of their customers agree with them and half of them do not. There certainly is no need to unnecessarily create animosity, especially when you are trying to sell products. In the case of Costco, a company highly respected for very wise business practices, Jim Sinegal, the co-founder and CEO until recently, has made no secret of his profound admiration for President Obama and his policies. For the sake of disclosure, before I go further, I should reveal that I have been a member of the Costco Board of Directors for 15 years. There are people on the board of several political persuasions, and we are all friendly and work well together because politics plays no role in business decisions. In the years that I have had the privilege of serving on the Costco board, I have never witnessed a single incident where politics influenced a business decision. Not only would that be incredibly unwise, since both customers and staff are heavily represented on both sides of the political aisle, but it would lead to mass resignations and membership cancellations, including yours truly. Because of Mr. Sinegal’s very public support of Mr. Obama, the recent withdrawal of the book “America: Imagine a World Without Her” by Dinesh D’Souza from Costco warehouses nationwide, just before the release of the movie by the same title, was widely interpreted as a political move, since the movie is very critical of the president. I spoke to the current CEO of Costco, Craig Jelinek, who was so absorbed in the business of the company that he was unaware of the movie prior to the resultant backlash. He readily admitted that those responsible for managing the very limited book space in Costco warehouses should have been aware of the imminent release of the movie and retained the book in anticipation of brisk stimulation of book sales, which had been very sluggish. After a public outcry, Costco put the book on its shelves. Read more: washingtontimes/news/2014/jul/22/carson-the-perils-of-mixing-politics-and-business/#ixzz38JkgsOEm Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:31:23 +0000
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