Expressing Your Personal Beliefs When Representing Your Company

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FORBES AUGUST 1, 2012 | READ THE ORIGINAL POST

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now of the Chick-fil-A uproar. Here’s a quick recap of the issue in case you’re like me and have had your head down getting work done and haven’t had a chance to catch up on the news. It sparked a lot of water cooler convos around here.

The controversy came about after an interview with the fast-food restaurant chain’s president and COO, Dan Cathy, who appeared in The Baptist Press on July 16 weighing in on his views of family.

“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy said. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

This stirred quite a debate within our workplace, I can only imagine how the thousands of Chick-fil-A employees that have differing views on the “biblical definition of the family unit” and whom may not be “married to their first wives” feel about what their leader told The Baptist Press but it got us chatting about airing our beliefs to the public in such a manner. ‘Eesh’ is my first and second thought when I think about it and third is an overwhelming feeling of nausea.

Is this a case of outward discrimination or is it a case of a company being vocal about their company principles? …Or is this a case of an executive taking advantage of his power in order to take a few minutes in the spotlight when speaking specifically to a media outlet that has similar beliefs? The underlying and ultimate question is – is it ever OK to express your personal beliefs when representing your company?