While I was the Managing Partner of First Source Capital Fund I mentioned at a meeting of other fund managers that I had fun doing my work. One of them took umbrage at my comment. He asked if I was often still at the office after 7 p.m. I said ‘Yes.’ He then asked if I liked to be on airplanes every week. I said: ‘Yes.’ He then said that there was no room for fun in our profession. I disagreed. I said: If I was not doing what I love to do, I would not do it.” He registered no acknowledgement with what I had said.

Immediately on returning to my office I called Oregon Screen Impressions and ordered T-shirts with the First Source logo and a tagline that read: “The Venture Fund WithThe Silent D.”

I had no difficulty finding persons willing to wear the shirts, and not only from companies that we had funded.

Last week I exchanged email messages with a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal. We had met at a breakfast in Portland for the Ambassador from China. I gave him one of my Savvy, Sage and Wise business cards. It carried the address for this blog site. In his email to me he said he was “. . . looking forward to lots and lots of fun working together.”

Seeing his message brought to mind this story about the tagline. Obviously my new best friend would have no problem appreciating the importance of having fun and working hard.

Question: Do you agree; does keeping ‘fun’ in the business equation, make for greater success?