Should you form a line between your professional and personal lives? Where should that line exist? Is it better to blend the two or better to keep a firm line in your mind?
There are countless stories discussing the negative stuff of mixing business with pleasure. “Never lend money to family” I am sure is a quote that everyone has heard at least sometime in their lives. The line doesn’t really mean “money” though, it means “business”.
The concept behind this is that once “money” is involved with your relationship, there is something more at stake with what you are doing. A person can’t simply have a relationship where they talk with another member of their family. Instead, there is near legal fiduciary responsibility to chat with this member about their business.
Earlier tonight there were actually three instances of merging the professional world with the personal world that came to fruition.
- My friend, K, is starting his company. K has had some early success and I believe he wants some more support from me. How does he ask that question? How do I respond? How is our relationship going to evolve based on this potential business partnership?
- K is also raising capital for his business. He is trying to figure out if he should ask his old boss of ~20 years for investment or not. The funny thing about this scenario is that K and his former boss are connected through a business relationship, but now calling on him would be more of a friendly request.
- These conversations all happened during a dinner with K, two other “professional friends” and one of my best friends from college, T. T and I wanted to talk about some crazy old stories, but these aren’t acceptable in front of the crowd we were with – or were they?
I’m trying to figure out the right balance of these different groups. I believe there is a good separation that much occur. That separation may be as simple as not joining the two parties, or as complex as entirely separating professional and personal interactions in your mind – no matter who you are talking with.
This is a tough task.