Business Opinions: Partnerships – great minds think alike, but for how long?

We all know the famous saying: “tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are”. We make friends or partners to become stronger, we put on the table all our strengths and skills and at least for an undefined period of time we are stronger together. But I also like another saying “don’t judge people looking at their partners, even Judas had impeccable friends” so my point is partners can help but you have to be careful who you chose and how do you define your partnership.

            Before you make the decision of entering a partnership first you must be true to yourself. Define what you can do and what you can bring to the partnership. In this way you know exactly what you put on the table and what you can ask from your partner. Compare the situation to the moment you decide to get married. The motivation is different, love versus material benefits, but the thought process is somehow similar. You present yourself, qualities and flaws, you get to know your partner and after finding similar desires, principles and future plans you take the next step. And be prepared to compromise, people change, situation change and you might find yourself in a place that you don’t feel comfortable. But if you have a strong partnership and the future still sounds good you can find the right steps to continue.

            At the beginning stage of a partnership everything is great, just like a honeymoon. You found common interest, both of you saw the added value the other one can bring and all your plans go like discussed. At this stage it is also a good idea to clarify everything seeing how good communication is. Build a frame, assume what every one of you will do in the future and try as hard as you can to keep your promises to each other. I am not going to say sign a contract because sometimes the value of the contract is lower than the value of the paper it is written on.

            In the next stage your partnership starts to become profitable and you and your partners see the signs you were expecting. Of course there is also the possibility of failure before success because as I was saying people change, situations change and sometimes when the going gets tough not everyone gets going. But let’s be positive and look at the best case scenario, profit, success and growth. This is sometimes a difficult moment in the partnership and the solution depends very much on the first stage. As long as you established from the beginning how you are going to share the spoils of victory you have it easier but very often at least one of the partners is convinced that he deserves more. And this tests the strength of your relationship.

            We have to understand that in the end everyone puts first his own interest. A partnership will work as long as you have the same goal and acknowledge each other’s input. Remember also that nothing lasts forever; sooner or later you will reach the moment when you will want something different even if what you have now is very good. My advice in the final stage, try if possible to keep a good relationship with your ex-partner because you worked good together, you have similar views and you never know when you will work together again. And some may say it is even good karma.

            One of the most often mistakes at the beginning of a partnership is starting it with a friend and hoping you will have the same relationship you have in social life translate it into business as well. Reality is rarely that, so try and avoid starting a partnership with a friend based only on your friendship. Unless you have some other common interests it is better to just stay friends, because after a while you risk losing both friend and partner. The failure comes mostly because when you have your initial talks you don’t concentrate that much on the details because he is your friend and he will be fair, right?

            I left partnerships (as an employee or not) for different reasons. I left because I wanted more and in that place there was no possibilities, I left because my partners broke their promises, I also left because of my principles and this year a left a partnership without even knowing (I found out after a while). I heard a very interesting quote recently related also to this situation: “To change is to improve, to change often is to perfect”, so I am close to perfection after all the changes in my life.

Leaving a partnership at the right time is as important as starting the right one. You must always be true to yourself and your principles and respect your promises. The first time a promise is broken you make a compromise and accept the situation hoping it was just that one time; but you must be prepared for that situation to happen again. They say that if you cut a rope you can still put it back together but a knot will always be there.