When different passions create risk: In continuing to think about building a brand through creating teams, I thought about an article I read several months ago. The article was focused on business partners and essentially said there are three types of entrepreneurial passions: creation of a product/service, growth of the business, or relationship development. If each business partner has a passion for a different part of the business, the business would probably fail. As a matter of fact, the article followed several businesses and proved this to be true. The businesses that had two or more partners with different passions did fail while the ones who had similar passions within their partners grew. Why did the businesses with different passions fail? They failed because there was no agreement on next steps or alignment on the right path to take when a obstacle arose. In those instances, it seems the business simply falls apart.
That struck me! I don’t have a business partner but I am creating teams within Legend. Sometimes it is nice to think about having a business partner to take on some of the load and the responsibilities. Entrepreneurial life/business ownership is lonely, right? But this article made me stop and see the risk side of bringing on a business partner.
My challenge for you today is to consider the 360 degree view of adding a business partner versus simply creating a team that reports to you. (With a team, you get the work done but not the stalemate at the top, right?) If you have a business partner, be aware of the risk that exists with a lack of alignment and be focused on creating alignment in order to move the business forward.
The article I am referencing is a Harvard Business Review Article called “When Entrepreneurial Passion Backfires” by de Mol, Cardon, and Khapova, published 2/20/20.