Taking it Personally in Business | Here's Why It Is Essential For Success

In the special events industry, we are all artists .  We also deal with high -pressure situations and more times than not, the events we produce are highly emotional , since they are usually lifetime landmark celebrations.  We put our heart and soul into each event and hope to leave a little footprint of our signature style on each one.  What we do is intensely personal and the type of personality our industry attracts for employment are typically those who care deeply about what others think because we are "pleasers" by our very nature. 


So often, we hear "it's business, it's not personal."  Or, "don't take things so personally."  Please, for your own sake and the sake of all people who work with you, take it personally.

Let's be clear.  There is a balance between those who "take it personally" by having complete meltdowns because their narcissism causes them to think that they are the root cause of every little disappointment; and the other extreme of someone who truly does not care or feel anything and rips through life and relationships with the philosophy they can do whatever they want because "it's not personal, it's business".

There is also a very clear boundary between having a healthy dedication to your job and attaching all your self-worth to it... so much so, that if something goes wrong, you allow it to actually affect your self-esteem.  What we are addressing here is balance.

Think about the people in your life whom you consider connected, engaging, inspired, energized and successful.  Most likely they take work personally and may treat business relationships with personal attention by building and investing in relationships.  On the opposite side are those who have depersonalized their work and may likely not be those with whom you enjoy working.  These are the individuals who have carelessly rolled over clients or other vendor partnerships carelessly and perhaps even unethically and burned many bridges.   Based on these observations, it would appear that those who take work personally are more successful.

And we are not just talking about psychological success.  This translates to business success and results.    If employees are not engaged, studies show it directly affects their work performance and this has significant cost to the business.  To get them engaged and involved means taking things personally.

Lack of ethics , which we see more and more in business today, may also be attributed to the whole feeling of "it's not personal, it's just business", where this mindless mindset actually provides a way for responsibility and caring to be excused.  Being protectors of employees, customers and communities is no longer seen as necessary because these are all "personal" and not "business" and therefore not relevant or important to success.

Be disappointed with people and experiences, yes.  Be frustrated.  Set out to learn what happened from the experience and what could be done differently.  Practice knowing that you and your career are not defined by what just happened.  But please do not ever drop the disheartening and soul crushing curtain of "it's not personal" on any circumstance or person.  This is your life.  Take all of it personally.
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Engaging Inspiration provides sparkling social media, marketing, sales & service training designed to inspire and engage the special event and hospitality industry professional.