Jack is a successful freelance voice-actor in Chicago with many lucrative clients.
Jack enjoys a cordial business relationship with most of his clients, and has proven himself to be a reliable partner in their business.
Then came Campaign 2016.
One of Jack’s clients (Acme Widgets) saw a number of Jack’s pre- and post-election posts on social media that disparaged the good reputation of the candidate supported by the CEO of Acme Widgets.
Beyond that, the CEO saw a snippet on the evening news on WLS-TV in Chicago that showed Jack demonstrating against his favorite candidate.
The CEO contacted the head of Advertising at Acme Widgets, and asked her if she couldn’t find someone else to voice their ads and corporate videos, as the CEO was basically a hard-ass and didn’t care that Jack was a reliable freelance partner for many past projects, and wanted him fired.
That’s the politics of BUSINESS.
True story? I dunno. Could it be?
Jack has two decisions as I see it:
- Continue to hold true to his conscience and his politics, hold his head high in his ethical boundaries, and find a new client to replace the one who just fired him — safe in knowing that he probably wouldn’t want to work for someone who supported THAT candidate anyway.
- Realize that his personal politics have no place in his business dealings… that discretion is the better part of valor, and learn to temper his online and public actions to maintain relations with otherwise equitable clients.
__________
I’ve blogged about this before; cautioning against the consequences of careless online posts, thinking that everyone believes just like YOU do. An analogy is the voice-actor who proudly boasts about the job he/she did for XXX Company in a Facebook thread without checking the XXX Company was OK with them sharing that info (or even the audio). This is how NDA (non-discosure agreeements) were born.
Honestly, I would fully support anyone who fits the profile of #1 OR #2 above. I just wanted to make you think about it and decide.
Clients are people with strongly held opinions, too, and some are just flawed enough to be spiteful. Don’t think for a minute that they aren’t living online just like you…checking out profiles and pictures, and making hasty, ill-advised, or capricious business decisions.
…end of tale.
CourVO
