Philosophy of Business Is Personal

One of my favorite philosophies through the years is the concept of Business is Personal, I think it is a different way of thinking that drives a better work environment, long term business strategy and a life well lived.

As I was growing up in the business world people would always talk about how you have to have ‘work life balance’ and I agree with enjoying your life outside of work is very important, it’s also important to enjoy your life while you work. The ‘work life balance’ statement, in a way, sent a message that it is wrong to mix your personal life with your business life - business was business and personal was personal and never the two shall meet.

For me over my career, the best work I have done and the best business decisions I have made is when work and personal meet.  

Better Business Outcomes

• As people know each other personally they have a better understanding for one another, and a deeper level of trust is formed.
• Stephen M. R. Covey wrote a book called “The Speed of Trust”  which provides great detail on trust drives real economic outcomes, decisions are made faster and they are more well informed because people are comfortable voicing their thoughts and opinions
• Knowing each other outside of work environment creates a bond and when people are bonded together the teamwork factor kicks in to get the 1 + 1 = 3 dynamic
• As people get to know each other on a more personal basis they can interact in a less formal way which I have found produces better results.
• Ray Dalio backs this point up in his book Principles, which speaks of making sure you work with people you know and like.  He calls out the importance of being able to make music with each other.

Different Ways to Incorporate Business is Personal into Your Business

• Have people over to your house or a party or dinner. When people come to your home it is much more personal then taking them to a restaurant
• During team meetings ask people to share good news both personal and business – everyone must share something. When you hear someone’s personal news it creates a different relationship and you learn things you might not  have ever known about that person.
• Create events where people can bring their spouse or significant other. This is a great thing especially because you want the spouse or significant other to feel good about the work their partner is doing. By meeting the partner, it also gets you to another layer of connection
• Team events outside of the office environment. At BLEND360 we recently had a badminton tournament and I was so surprised to see how good some of our teammates were, I am talking College Scholarships and playing on National teams!
• Announcement of a new employee should contain personal tidbits so we see a fuller picture of the person
• Encourage/Support/Fund group activities. I recently ran in a long distance BLEND360 relay race and got to meet the family one of my teammates and we had a lot of fun and had a great shared experience with my running partners

I first picked up on the business is personal from David Williams CEO of Merkle he was amazing about it. We used to joke that David had no friends outside of work and that’s what we were there for, which is not true of course! Until this day I remain good friends with David and I try and follow many lessons I learned from him in our 20 years working together. Business is Personal is one of the philosophies that David followed as he built Merkle from a $2 million services company to a Billion dollar plus Worldwide Agency.

As another example, I was recently speaking with a friend of mine, Sean Battle who is the CEO of PCI a large, fast-growing technology company. We were talking about the challenging times many companies are facing right now and how to navigate through it. Sean said his biggest coaching to his team is ‘we need to make decisions as if they are affecting our own family members’. For Sean and his team, Business is Personal and they have used that as a guiding light. The philosophy has helped the company grow in 11 years to 300+ employees with 16 locations.

I hope it helps you in some way, shape or form.

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