When politics invade your conversations at work

On Wednesday morning, Porter Braswell woke up numb.

In a state of disbelief, the Goldman Sachs analyst turned entrepreneur was in awe that Donald Trump was officially President elect of the United States. The CEO and co-founder of Jopwell, the diversity recruitment platform connecting people of color to top jobs and internships, Braswell has devoted his career to making the professional world more inclusive. Now, like much of the larger tech community across the country, he couldn't comprehend what the election of a divisive candidate like Trump would mean for his startup's future.

"I'm still processing," he said.

Braswell shared his feelings on a panel I moderated on Thursday night at LinkedIn’s offices in New York City. Hosted by LinkedIn's Black Inclusion Group, the intended topic of the discussion was diversity in tech. But in front of a crowd of about 100 tech workers from companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter, the conversation inevitably turned to politics.

Danielle Robinson Bell -- the head of marketing for digitalundivided -- echoed Braswell's feelings of numbness. An organization working to set up Black and Latina female founders for success, digitalundivided execs were in the middle of preparing a partnership plan for the next Secretary of Commerce -- a role they thought would be appointed by Hillary Clinton. But with Trump set to take on the White House, Bell said digitalundivided is in a "holding pattern," not sure what to expect from the next administration.

While it has largely been viewed as taboo for CEOs to share their political leanings with their employees, the surprise results of the election have compelled leaders across the tech community to speak out. The CEOs of Verizon, Kaiser Permanente, KIND and yes, LinkedIn, all shared their reactions to the election on our platform last week. Most leaders across industry expressed some form of shock or sadness. All of them used those emotions to propel their employees to work harder to live by the values they feel their companies represent.   

Braswell felt like he needed to speak out as well, so he wrote an email to the tens of thousands of members of the larger Jopwell community.

"It has been an incredibly challenging year to be a person of color in America," he wrote. "The shock, uncertainty, hopelessness, fear, and anger can be overwhelming. On top of that, the work we each have to do to keep our communities alive is daunting."

The conversation we had on stage started with numbness and shock, but it ended with a call to action. Braswell plans on having a town hall next week with Jopwell members to discuss how to move forward. Robinson Bell urged the tech workers in the audience to continue to speak out for the causes and the communities that they believe in. Talking about politics at work is challenging, but both panelists agreed that workplace inclusion starts with having difficult conversations. Even when they involve party lines.

"Now is not the time to stop," Robinson Bell said. "We are stronger together and we always will be."