Nancy: Yes – and it’s rarely worth it to work for them, when there are so many nice customers out there.

Billy: That sucks! Sounds like a nice Gulag would be an improvement :o)

Eric: I had completely forgotten that. Thanks, I’ll go back and revisit that (great) book and see what Collins has to say about it.

Steve: I could not agree more. Happiness at work rarely happens by accident, and when it does it’s more liable to suddenly disappear by accident.

When it occurs by design in a company (and SW Airlines is a great example of this) it is robust, long-lasting AND profitable.

Ask M: I expect nothing less from you :o)

James: Glad you could recognize this from your own experience. And good luck moving in that “make money” circle :o)

Eye of Horus: Thanks for the reality check. It is easy to get carried away in simple solutions and Venn diagrams do carry the risk that you make something look simpler than it really is.

And many people certainly feel, that there is no overlap between those three areas. I happen to believe, that the vast majority of us can find that overlap – provided we want to.

But giving in to cynicism will not get us there.

Alexander Kharlamov: Yeah, it can be tricky. But many, many boring tasks (from accounting to cleaning to sales) can be outsourced these days freeing you to do what you like.

Tantowi: You got it. Happy people rock :o)

Go read the No Asshole Rule and then do the necessicary. Actually, no, I will spell it out. Go and be an asshole somewhere else.

Its easy to pour scorn on someone else when you hide behind a pompous name. If you are so high and mighty and oh-so-well-read say it with your real name.

Its pinheads like you that makes work so unbearable.

Just one comment – point #1 might be a bit too unrealistic for some startups. A lot of times, startup founders are forced to wear every hat and do everything themselves – outsourcing the “boring crap” is often not an option.