SchlagerBlog

Today is, of course, election day. The readers of this blog will note that like most corporate bloggers, I have kept my personal political views under wraps. I suppose I buy into the argument that you don’t want to alienate any customers; thus, leave politics out of the equation. However, others have taken a different view. One blogger whose work I always read is Tim O’Reilly, the founder and head of O’Reilly Media. For those of you who don’t know O’Reilly Media, they have staked out a dominant presence in technical publishing and have become an innovator in community-building related to technology, publishing, and Web communication. Although I have not yet had the opportunity to attend one of their Tools of Change for Publishing conferences, I have recently joined their TOC social community. XML publishing tools, Web 2.0 strategies, digital publishing–since these topics are at the heart of so many of our own company’s efforts, I’m very glad to have an organization like O’Reilly leading the way.

Last week, interestingly enough, Tim O’Reilly wrote an impassioned blog post explaining why he was voting for Obama.  What followed, apparently, was a cascade of comments on his blog post, with a number of commenters criticizing his decision to make his allegience plain. Yesterday he responded with further thoughts, explaining his decision and relating it to the larger issue of trying to use the Web for things that matter, such as faciliating discussion about important issues to the tech community–and the world at large.

My take on it? Bravo, Tim. And I say that not merely because I agree with his position and am likewise supporting Obama. Rather, I think he has shown leadership on this issue in the same way that his company has shown leadership on so many items that matter to the publishing community. It’s the kind of leadership that most of us hope to see in our next president–regardless of who is elected. For those of us who run companies, the challenge shouldn’t be to hide our every political viewpoint at the risk of offending someone, but rather to become fully engaged in the issues of our day and to address them. There is such a thing as intelligent disagreement. We can have frank discussions about important topics, even politics, without resorting to boycotts and scorched-earth pronouncements and needless attacks on those who disagree with us. As much as anything, I believe this is what Barack Obama represents for our country–a way out of the poisonous muck of the recent past and toward an atmosphere where our country can get on with the task of discussing, and addressing, the huge challenges that we face.

I find myself wondering what his inaugural address will be like. Talk about raised expectations. Talk about a milestone document.