It’s a smallish lapel pin with the Ukrainian trident symbol on it. Is it considered controversial at all to the European public? Not appropriate? My meetings will be with larger tech companies.
Should I take it off for the meetings, but still feel free to wear it in public?
Comments
One of those things that’s probably fine since the vast majority either agrees or doesn’t care. However, there’s a chance you’d encounter someone of that vocal minority who’s fallen for some far-right propaganda or something and will hold it against you. Then again, perhaps that’s something you’d like to know about people you (intended to) work with.
Europeans do not wear or display political messages on their bodies, clothes or other posessions (cars, houses…). You are of course free to do so in the public space, but quite a lot of people will think you are trying to display your virtue and find you pedantic or self-righteous, even if they agree with the message.
In a business setting, this should absolutely be avoided for the same reasons. The only ones who do that kind of political messaging are politicians, because well, their job is inherently political — and even for them, it’s often reserved for incendiary members of the opposition.
Definitely not appropriate in a professional setting. Nothing to do with the specific cause being controversial or not, you just don’t display your personal politics, religion, etc… in those situations, you’d be seen as unprofessional.
Better not, because you may irritate a lot of people. They won’t tell you but you will spoil your relationship with them, for essentially nothing.
There’s a clear attacked side in the conflict, but the consequences of it are negative for everyone and people are increasingly fatigued.
Generally, don’t wear political pins unless your job is politics or you’re representing a country in a political sense.
Edit: oh, sorry I thought it’s a Ukrainian flag, which is cringy but passable, but it’s a trident – absolutely avoid wearing it, because this is the same level of aggressiveness, as displaying a Russian eagle lapel pin and is strongly associated with the far right in people’s minds. In other words you will be pidgeonholed if you wear it.
I would advice against it. Even though most people are pro ukraine, it is just not good business etiquette to bring your personal politics into business.
There’s a good chance people who’re on the same side will not even appreciate it. It’s simply unprofessional.
Even people who agree with you won’t like it just because talking politics is not appropriate for (most, if not all) workplace environments. And most people here support Ukraine. Also why alienate any potential Russians you’re meeting, even ones who are pro Ukraine and anti Putin? They might assume they could be mistreated by you or that you’ll be difficult to work with.
In my personal life I also wear stuff like that so I get why you’re doing it. But be prepared to accept the (mostly negative) consequences if you involve it in your job.
me: 🇬🇧-> 🇳🇱
First of all, most people wouldn’t even know that trident is a Ukrainian symbol. So, 99% chance this would actually go unnoticed.
But even if noticed – it’s not a big deal. The other comments here are being overly cautious and somewhat hypocritical. Many public institutions still fly a Ukrainian flag next to theirs in a sign of support, people have Ukrainian flags next to their LinkedIn accounts, some people still say supporting phrases to Ukraine at their speeches at the professional conferences. Nothing prevents you from expressing your solidarity with any noble topic or cause if it’s done in a non-intrusive manner such as lapel pin.
Then, in such of course you should have a statement ready if people ask you about it, and that statement better be calm, polite and not harming your business (especially if you’re an employee representing a company).
As a general rule I’d say showing support for Ukraine is perfectly okay in any public setting, or in a meeting with friends and family. Anybody who has an issue with that probably shouldn’t be considered your friend anyway.
In a corporate setting – like a business meeting – it is however kind of unusual to openly display political messages, regardless of what the respective message actually is. I guess to most Europeans the Ukrainian trident is not a controversial symbol in any way but a business meeting is probably not seen as an appropriate forum to display it.
Wow. Lots of preachy people in the previous comments. “Europeans do not wear…..”
Yeah. They often do.
While, in general, I wouldn’t wear political symbols to the office, support for an invaded country in what is an entirely uncontroversial good/bad situation is likely to get zero negative feedback and to cause zero trouble. I wouldn’t wrap myself in a flag, but a small lapel pin?