Positivity Through Partnerships

“Two heads are better than one.”  An old cliché maybe, but so true.  Michael Eisner has written a book called Working Together about successful business partnerships.  He highlights numerous partnerships in his book, but points out that our individualistic society tends to undervalue working collaboratively.  This is unfortunate given that good partnerships can increase positivity and lead to higher performance.

There are two ways in which collaborating with someone else can boost your positivity.  First, one of the best ways to increase your happiness is to have close, supportive relationships.  A partner can make it easier to get through hard times and gives you someone to celebrate with in good times.  People who are lucky enough to find partners they work well with benefit from the friendship.

Second, partnerships can increase your positivity by allowing you to play to your strengths.  In their book, Power of 2, Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller identify elements that are necessary for partnerships to be successful.  The first one they mention is having complementary strengths; one of the partners is strong where the other is weak and vice versa.

Michael Eisner and his partner at Disney, Frank Wells, are a perfect example of complementary strengths.  Eisner had the creative brilliance and Wells had the business sense.  Wells once told Fortune “For Michael, I make life easier.  For me, he makes life more fun.”

So it isn’t surprising that there are so many successful partnerships, think William Hewlett and David Packard, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Bill and Melinda Gates, William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, or Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.  Their collaborations enhanced their performance and made them happier, which resulted in great achievements.

Do you have a business partner?  If not, maybe you should look for someone to collaborate with.  It might just help you take your game to the next level.