“It’s not personal; it’s just business.” –Too Many People
I’ve always felt that the lines we draw between business life and personal life are mostly artificial.
Granted, some demarcation between the roles we play at home and at work is healthy, but it makes me shudder a little when I hear people say things like, “in business and in life.”
They are not different endeavors. And, to be clear, business is not death.
For me, my business of Extreme Leadership development–which I pursue as a keynote speaker, author, coach, and facilitator–is about as personal as it gets. My business revolves around my body of work, and my body of work comes out of my life experience.
Many of my closest personal friends started out as “clients”–readers of my books, audience participants, meeting planners, executives, certified facilitators are just labels. We are all human beings, connected heart to heart, in pursuit of something great together. Friends, in other words.
The best businesses inspire a heart-felt connection with clients and customers. That’s why whenever I hold an Extreme Leadership Certification program here in San Diego, I invite everyone to my home for a BBQ.
Is that business or personal?
Yes, it is.
And that’s one of the things I’ve loved about Facebook: business and personal all mushed together, just the way it is in life.
Silly me.
The other day, after I returned from speaking at a remarkable conference in Australia, I learned that Facebook, in its infinite, all-knowing wisdom, had forced me to convert my personal timeline to a business “Page.” All my friends (including the 600 or so that I’d just added on my trip) have been converted to “likes” on my business page, and my personal timeline was summarily shut down, because, saith the Facebook gods, I was using my personal timeline for business.
Bad Farber! How dare you blur those sacred lines?
Okay, Facebook, I’ll play by your rules. Since my “personal” timeline can’t be “business,” I guess my “business” page will just have to be personal.
Do you have any rules against that?
To rework the oft-repeated line at the top of this post,
“It is business. It is personal. It is, simply put, life.”
So, I invite you to come on over to my new Facebook Author Page, and let’s get personal.
How about you? Where do you draw the lines between work and personal life?
I just did a 5 day Leadership Conference called Crank it up on the Gold Coast Australia. Steve was one of my coaches. Absolutely BRILLIANT 2000 people from all over the world were blowen away. I can’t wait to see him again I highly recommend Steve and his Coaching ways. Please come back Steve ✊
Thank you for the kind words, Rachelle! It was a thrill to spend time with the Cranked Up Amplified Leadership crowd! I so look forward to my next trip down under.
Awesome topic. Facebook can really help any business as long as it is used correctly. Great post.