The world has internalized the famous quote from The Godfather – “It’s not personal, it’s just business”.   However, to me business IS personal.   After all, you are dealing with people everyday in business so how is that not personal?

I cried in a performance feedback session with my boss.   I actually cried because I was so touched by the evaluation.   There’s no crying in baseball or business or so the line goes.   Since when are basic human emotions considered weaknesses?   That boss ended up becoming one of my best friends and we truly, deeply, love each other.

My now husband and I met at our interview for the same company.   Mixing business with pleasure is how I ended up married to an incredible man.

Conversations with Tinna, my partner in Booda Brand adventures, oscillate between work and the latest happening on The Bachelorette!    So it takes an hour instead of 10 minutes, but I actually look forward to conference calls now.

My most favorite “business personal” story is the one I am living right now.   The head of the creative agency I work with signs off work emails to me with “Love, Tania.”   It could be a mundane mail about brochures and I see “Love, Tania” at the end and it makes me smile.   How incredible is that!!!!

It’s all personal.

There are times I’ve been burned by being personal in business situations.   And so most of us put up walls and become the no nonsense, tough as nails, pinstriped, hair in a bun, the fun is all in my shoes caricature of a business woman.   We think that’s what will garner the respect of others.   Wrong.   A very nasty label gets stamped on instead.

And so we retort, “It’s not fair, when men are tough and mean they aren’t called names.”   Yes, they aren’t called names, but do we want to aspire to be THAT?

I’ll take being burned 10 times if it means I find a Tania or a Denise or a Tinna or a Brian any day of the week.   And I choose to be authentically me in cowboy boots, hair wild, with a rocking chair and mood lighting my office and free flowing hugs flying off my arms.  And this is when I worked in a conservative German pharmaceutical company!

Here’s the reason why – when you’re good, when you’re really good, there is no need to hide.   Good ideas, no matter how they are packaged always shine.

And if you are a Booda Brand customer or store, you know I choose to seal the deal with a hug over a handshake.   After all who doesn’t prefer a warm and wonderful hug to a cold handshake?