Across the US, business leaders are relieved by the clear outcome to the presidential election, even if it’s one they aren’t personally thrilled with. That’s particularly true for retail industry executives looking ahead to the holiday shopping season.
“I wish that we had different choices, but I would say that the most important thing, selfishly, is I’m glad it’s over,” said Jim McCann, founder and chairman of 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. “As a retailer, particularly the retailer of a lot of gifts for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, if this caused distractions — very selfishly, that would’ve damaged our business.”
“The fact that it was very decisive helps too,” he added. “For the first time in a few cycles, people aren’t talking about fraud, and they’re not talking about stolen elections.”
That sentiment was echoed around the markets Wednesday.
“All Americans should be happy that we will have an orderly transfer of power. Whew! That’s a great risk reduction,” investor Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates LP, posted on LinkedIn.
Addressing Employees
McCann said he plans to address the election at his company’s upcoming town hall meeting, scheduled for next week.
“We go to work because we need to make a living, and it’s who we are and what we are. But it’s also social. And I’ve seen in our workplace that people are very reluctant to have conversations that might drift into politics,” McCann said. But, he said, he thinks it’s reasonable for staff to talk about these political developments — as long as they follow a few ground rules.
“You have to be civil. You have to respect the points of view of others,” he said. “The best thing we can do is use our power to make other people feel comfortable, included and respected.”
The other point he plans to emphasize at the town hall is the value of optimism — a muscle that science shows can be strengthened, he said, and one that leads to healthier lives and better performance at work. Asked whether some employees may find that message a bit pollyannaish, McCann said that the timing of the town hall helps — it’s next week, when the sharpest pain will have dulled for those feeling it.
Then, he said, it’s time to say: “Let’s pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with it.” At work, this means reconnecting with people who voted for the other candidate. “We don’t want to limit the number of relationships we have to just those who agree with us politically,” he said. “That’s dangerous. It’s isolating, and it’s not good for us or the country.”
The campaign season did not set a good example for this kind of civil discourse, McCann said. “This particular political process leading up to yesterday’s election really did challenge civility and set really bad examples for our kids — in my case, I’m a grandparent, for my grandkids — in terms of how we speak about one another, in terms of acceptable language.”
McCann hopes a better example comes from the top moving forward. “It’s incumbent upon the president-elect to set the tone. I don’t know if he’s capable, but boy, it would be nice if he did,” he said. “It would show the intellectual and emotional growth that we need. I’m hoping for him to say, ‘I’m going to make a gesture here that’s deeply felt and important, that’s out of character for what people might expect.’”
“I happen to know him from growing up — not well, but I’ve met him many times,” said McCann, a Trump contemporary who, like the president-elect, was raised in Queens, N.Y. “I’m going to call on him to be his better self and to show the growth and maturity that this country needs from its leader.”