When Personal Opinion Forces Its Way Into the Office

I get that clients want to be somewhere that supports their values. I get that the views people have no matter where they are sitting matter deeply to them. I don’t get the idea of forcing a person or a business to commit to a position one way or the other. When clients signed up with us, they didn’t demand to know our political positions. This has all evolved because of the way the culture has split so severely.

I don’t want to lose clients over this, but I don’t want to capitulate and say things that aren’t true. We have tried to take the position of no position. We have explained, in writing, that our team contains many different viewpoints and we honor all of them. This resulted in a client writing us to say we were “diversity freaks” and they moved their money from the firm. I should say we are situated in a state that is mostly red with a smattering of blue cities, so the differences of opinion run very deep here. What are others doing to deal with this, and what do you recommend we do next?

K.H.

Dear K.H.,

I hope you can hear me sighing through what I am writing. I grew up in an era, like many people, where we were told not to talk about politics or religion in the workplace. We were often told not to even do it with friends and family, just to avoid bad feelings and difficult conversations! Now, if you don’t have a point of view and share it, there is something wrong with you. Times have definitely changed quite a bit, and personally I don’t think it is for the better. Some things should stay private.

That said, you are being pushed against the wall right now by your clients, so saying nothing does not appear to be an option. I think you have three clear choices (and you might not like any of them):

1. Take a firm stand on not participating in sides as a firm. If an advisor wants to share their point of view with a client, whether in agreement or dissension, that’s their prerogative. However, as a firm, you need to issue a proclamation in writing that you care deeply about all of your clients, and there are many points of view among the client base (you don’t have to reference your team here to avoid the diversity knock again). State that you respect each person’s right to their opinion. Finally, note that you are here to create plans and manage portfolios to help people meet their goals, and you are not here to engage in political discourse. Say it firmly and with finality, and then refuse to engage again. Make your statement, and be done with it.
2. Allow each advisor to determine how they want to deal with the clients who are forcing this issue. You could ask the advisors to go through their lists and identify the clients who are the most vocal. As a team, you could strategize ways to share differing or aligned opinions. If you wanted to coddle the clients somewhat, you could make shifts in how clients are managed and by whom, partnering advisors and clients with similar views.
3. Ignore the whole thing. Remind clients in every exchange that you represent a financial planning and investment management firm, and keep bringing the conversation back to the plan and the portfolios. This will take a number of times before your clients will get the picture, but eventually they will likely stop asking.

Will any one of these things ensure you will keep your clients through this process? No, nothing here is certain, so pick whatever approach your team can live with, and know there could be fallout. You are stuck between the proverbial rock and the hard place.

Dear Bev,

Our two lead advisors are very vocal about their political views. We just hired a new person who is gay. They don’t know he is gay, but the rest of us do. It is so embarrassing when they get on their soapbox and basically vilify everyone he knows and probably cares about. The rest of us have apologized to him, and he knows we are not part of it. But I wonder whether someone should say something to one of the partners just so they know how hurtful they are with their words?

Anonymous

Dear Team Member,

I had this happen early in my career when I was running a big team consisting of all men, and my best team member was a gay man. My boss hated women and gay people. He was extremely vocal about it in every meeting and get-together. My colleague and I bonded over it, and we are still close to this day. In fact, he is one of my favorite people from all of the thousands I have known over the years. We didn’t enjoy it at the time, especially because we were both top performers, but we saw my boss for who he was and didn’t let it affect who we were.

Over time he lost his power, and most people on the team supported both of us so strongly. That support really mitigated my boss’ words and their impact. Was it pleasant? Not at all — one of the worst experiences of my career — but we got through it with support from colleagues.

Having lived through it, I speak from experience when I say I don’t think speaking to your partners is going to do anything. If they have strong views like this, and they are comfortable expressing them not knowing who might be listening or impacted by what they are saying, someone bringing up a person’s lifestyle to them isn’t probably going to stop them or make much of a difference.

What you can do is what you are doing: align with your new colleague. Engage the team to support him, as a colleague, and show you care about his contributions to the workplace and not his personal life. If your team is the type to go out together, enjoy him as a person and get to know him. I’d really like to say you could change the viewpoint of your partners, but I wouldn’t want to suggest something that makes anyone a target in their place of employment. These are challenging times for having differing points of view!

Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. She is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).

She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.

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