Talking politics
Do you talk much about politics in a professional context?
Do you talk much about politics in a professional context?
There was a time when I didn’t really talk much about politics, on social media or at work. It seems hard to believe now, but it partly stems from the fact that I’ve never been that “political” — in the sense that I’ve never been a member of a political party, for example.
And my antipathy towards party politics probably played a large part in me choosing the road that I have — to be a social entrepreneur. I suppose I felt that that was the main way I could make a difference.
But things have changed in the last few years. It’s hard to remember exactly, but the change probably coincides with the beginning of austerity in 2010, and then things changed again with Brexit.
Ever since we set up Social Business Brokers — in 2010 as it happens — we’ve had regular discussions about the tension between “doing what you can, where you are” and a desire to do bigger stuff — to change the system.
That’s come into focus again with our work on sharing school uniform.
It is *brilliant* that it’s an incredibly successful and popular project.
But we cannot ignore that one reason it is so successful is that there has been a systematic dismantling over the last 12 years of many of the support structures that many people rely on.
So we shared over 12,000 items of uniform over the summer because it’s a brilliant project and we made it easy to share uniform.
But it’s also because thousands of families in our city are at their absolute limit. And we are one of the few remaining sources of support.
I don’t see how I can do my work whilst not recognising, and pointing out, the context within which I work. It is genuinely soul destroying to do work that you know makes a difference, but to effectively see that work cancelled out — or worse — by decisions taken by government.
I recognise I have some privileges — I have a platform, which comes from running a social enterprise and having a half-decent social media profile. I have a fair bit of autonomy — given that I help to run the social enterprise I work for. Not everyone at work will agree with everything I say — but we are all clear on the fact that we exist to try to make things better, for people and for the planet.
So, when things are as they are, and when I see decisions being taken, day after day, year after year, which make things worse, it’s hard to stay quiet.
Yet there’s part of me that recognises that it’d be far easier — and perhaps more lucrative — to keep my head down. Play the game a bit more. But that just doesn’t fit with my values. Which, ultimately, is why I went into social enterprise in the first place.