Should you mix business with pleasure?
It’s an old school saying, never mix business with pleasure. But I have to say, even though I am a little old school in the way I like to do business, I definitely don’t agree.
Millennium has been built on relationships. Relationships start as business arrangements, but grow into acquaintances and even friends. My suppliers, customers and partners all over the world aren’t just numbers in a big corporate machine to me. Relationships matter, and the best way to build relationships is to mix business with pleasure. Over the decades, I’ve spent many hours chewing the fat with suppliers, partners and friends, whether that’s over a meal in a restaurant, with a few beers in a bar or over a Zoom call.
This week is the perfect example of how mixing business and pleasure not only helps build your connections, but helps build a fulfilling life too. Yesterday, Connor and I hopped on a plane and headed to Barcelona to attend the global Atlas Logistics Network and Alfa Logistics Network conference. We attend every year, but the location always changes. Last year it was in Vietnam, the year before it was in Paris, it’s been in Bali, Athens and even Long Beach. This year, luckily for us, it’s “local” in Spain. But the short travel time isn’t the only reason I’m happy to be heading to Spain, it just so happens that my team Aston Villa are playing Barcelona just a few days after the conference ends !
As you know, I love to follow the Villa around the world and I can’t wait to see them kick off at Camp Nou in their Champions League match, not too long ago we were playing Rochdale in the Championship but now were travelling all over Europe and competing against the best teams in the world ! It’s the perfect example of mixing business with pleasure. We’ve got 9 days of networking, meetings, conferences and events. We’ll be talking business, catching up with suppliers, partners and customers and hopefully making some new contacts too. Followed by a few days of fun and frivolities. I don’t know what the conference will bring for us, but there is one thing for certain, we’re sure to make more connections, business partnerships and hopefully friends.
So how about you? Do you mix business with pleasure? Are you attending the conference? Have you got any success stories (or disaster tales!) I’d love to hear them…