Aristotle's 3 kinds of friendship

Over the past 15 months sitting in the first chair, I've come to appreciate that great business starts with conversations and the relationships with the people we work alongside.

Building the trust and the safe space for us to bring our whole selves into our daily work. Then, the conversations can really become rich and diverse.

I stumbled into a quote from Aristotle on how he breaks down friendship (i.e. relationships) into three distinct categories.

• Virtue (VALUES)

• Utility (Craftmanship / business)

• Leisure (have fun)

I think Aristotle's insight is profound for how we as leaders must cultivate the soil of work to provide opportunities for all three relational categories to be attained.

• If it's only Utility, then it's transactional.

• If it's only Virtue then there won't be cash to pay the bills.

• If it's only Leisure, then it's clearly not a business.

Striking a balance of virtue, utility, and leisure in our conversations and relationships will allow our team to flourish!

I think Aristotle is on to something…

Onward,

Matt