Summary: Synopsis<br> People have been asking Dr. Misner what his position, or BNI’s position on current political events. What Dr. Misner has discovered over time is that talking politics or religion in BNI is not a good idea. Our mission in BNI is to help people increase their business through a structured, positive, and professional referral marketing program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.<br> Dr. Misner has always been active both politically and spiritually–but neither of these is pertinent to BNI. Political and religious issues can be extremely divisive. There are many great venues for expressing political and religious beliefs. BNI is not one of them. BNI is an international organization with chapters all around the world and members who belong to every religion. It can only succeed if it focuses on its mission.<br> That isn’t to say that BNI members shouldn’t have strong political or religious views. We just need to keep them out of BNI meetings.<br> Brought to you by the <a href="http://tiny.cc/NetworkingForSuccess">Networking for Success YouTube Channel</a>.<br> Complete Transcript of Episode 495 – <br> Priscilla:<br><br> Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, which features Dr. Ivan Miser and many networking experts. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you today?<br> Ivan:<br><br> I am in Houston, Texas today. On my way to Houston. I am speaking at a coaching conference this week. I am excited to be there. I do presentations all over the world. If you are part of a big company and looking to being in an outside speaker, let us know. I am always happy to go speak at these events.<br> Priscilla:<br><br> That would be a good referral for you.<br> Ivan:<br><br> Yeah. That’s a great referral for me. It needs to be an organization that has a budget. With as much travel as I do, I don’t do free presentations anymore. But if they have a budget, reach out. I will put them in touch with somebody.<br> So that is where I am this week. I am in Houston speaking in an organization that is very active in BNI. So today is an interesting topic. Politics, religion and BNI.<br> Priscilla:<br><br> Yeah.<br> Ivan:<br><br> You know, I decided to do this topic right now because of all the things that are going on in the world. More than ever, I am getting asked about my position or BNI’s position on people elected to office or things that are going on the world like the European Union and what is going on with the UK. So I am asked what our opinion is.<br> I think it is really important to say that talking politics and religion in BNI is not a good idea. The topic has been for many years brought up to me occasionally but it has been brought up a lot lately. So I thought it would be time to to a podcast on it.<br> Before I did my graduate work, not a lot of people know this. I did my graduate work in organizational behavior. I received a bachelor’s degree in political science. As a political science graduate, I was really interested in politics. And I still am.<br> But I don’t discuss it in BNI. Why? Because it gets our eyes off the ball. IT takes us away from BNI’s mission. Our mission in BNI is to help people increase their business with structured, positive and professional referral marketing program. This is our mission statement. Positive an professional referral marketing program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality professionals.<br> That is our mission. One of the reasons BNI is the world’s largest,
