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Yes, I believe everyone in BNI should talk about politics and religion; if they’d like their chapter to go up in flames, that is.

Okay, I admit that I chose this title to get your attention. Talking politics and religion in BNI is not a good idea.  This topic is brought to me occasionally, and it’s time I write something about it.

Before I did my graduate work in organizational behavior, I received a bachelor’s degree in political science.  As a political science graduate, I was very interested in politics—and still am. But I do not discuss it in BNI.

Why?  Because it gets our eyes off the ball; it takes us away from BNI’s mission.

Our mission is “to help members increase their business through a structured, positive, and professional ‘word of mouth’ program that enables them to develop long-term meaningful relationships with quality professionals.”  (Givers Gain® The BNI Story, Chapter 10.)

One of the reasons BNI is the largest, most successful business networking organization in the world is that we stay focused on our mission.  Anything that takes us away from our mission is a distraction, and there is no bigger set of distractions to a referral organization than religion and politics.

I’ve been a registered voter since I was 18 years old (and have voted in every major U.S. election since then).  I have been active in a church all my life.  Neither of these personal practices—discussed in detail—is pertinent to my BNI membership.

Throughout my life, I’ve been involved in many local, state, and national political campaigns.   I also have well-established religious beliefs.  However, you don’t (and won’t) know my political or religious views unless you are a close friend.

Why? Because it is not appropriate to espouse those opinions at BNI. It can be divisive, and distract us from our mission.

Focused on Unity through Mission

I understand that there are political and sometimes religious issues about which we have strong opinions—I certainly have some.  However, BNI is not the place for these discussions, because they are almost always divisive.  It takes our eyes off of what the purpose of the organization is, namely referrals based on professional relationships.

This is one of the reasons we don’t invite outside speakers to participate at BNI meetings.  Generally they want to sell a product or service or promote a political or civic position.  If they want to sell something they should join a chapter.  If they want to promote a political or religious position, they need to speak somewhere else—BNI is not the right venue.

BNI operates in countries where almost every religion in the world is practiced.  We are in countries that represent virtually every political system in the world.  We wouldn’t be effective if we focused on anything else but our mission: helping business people get more business through referrals.

We are proud of our emerging legacy of bringing people together.  Many BNI members have contentious political and religious positions. But in BNI, they focus on the mission of relationships and referrals.

This doesn’t mean that members (and for that matter – many contributing authors to this newsletter), are apolitical.  I am sure that many members and many of our contributing authors have strong political and religious beliefs.  Their opinions just don’t belong in a meeting or in this newsletter.

I recently had a member get upset with me because a well-known author contributed a business piece to our newsletter.  The article was on-topic and strictly business.  However, a link to his personal web site was included, and his web site mentioned religion.  We can’t control what people think or say on other web sites or in their personal lives.  We can, however, control what we do inside of BNI.

If you want to stay on mission – stay off the topics of religion and politics at BNI meetings.  But, really, shouldn’t we all know that already?


Called the father of modern networking by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the founder and chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. His latest book, Networking Like a Pro can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company. ou may read more of his material on his blog at www.NetworkingNowBlog.com.




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