Why Great Partnerships Succeed Working Together?

I recently finished reading an awesome book titled, “Working Together, Why Great Partnerships Succeed” by Michael D. Eisner. The book presents stories of 10 partnerships that has stood against the test of time while being successful and happy, irrespective of field they have partnered on.

The 10 partnerships mentioned in the book are:

Frank Wells and Michael D. Eisner (The writer himself)
- “Where I learned 1 + 1 = 3 (if not much more)”
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger
- “Warren and I are kind of an historical accident. It’s not a standard model.”
Bill and Melinda Gates
- “Be smarter faster.”
Brian Grazer and Ron Howard
- “We view the world differently, but we arrive at the same conclusions.”
Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti
- “This isn’t a story about money or fashion or power. It’s a story about love.”
Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager
- “Two guys from Brooklyn”
Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus
- “It was always about the business. Whenever we did anything, the question was, Is it good for the business?”
Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken
- “A good partnership has to allow for a certain amount of separation.”
Joe Torre and Don Zimmer
- “Hit and run.”
John Angelo and Michael Gordon
- “Smart as hell… and scrupulously honest.”

1. Frank Wells and Michael D. Eisner

Frank Wells, “You can be chairman and CEO, and I’ll be president and COO.”
honesty, directness, and a certain amount of mutual respect go a long way.
Partners have to like each other.
When I give speeches, I call my theory “creativity in a box”. Picture a box, with a creative idea at the center, and its size represented by the finances – how much the idea will cost to produce. In business, the trick is not only to come up with the idea, but to determine the size of the box – how much should be spent on it.
His platform to execute our maniacal desire for synergy across all company lines.
“help the other fellow”
their success didn’t get in the way of the overall success of the company.
“Humility is the final achievement.”
Like an amazing chess player, he was already looking ahead.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger

About ways the economy could be fixed, and spoke with real concern about the millions of people who were hurting.
We both spent the better part of our days reading, so we could learn more
“Take a simple idea and take it seriously”
“The way to win is to work, work, work, and hope to have a few insights.”
“CEOs get into trouble by surrounding themselves with sycophants. You’re not going to get a lot of contrary thinking.”
It’s beneficial to have a partner who will say, “You’re not thinking straight.”
“I never make a decision to sell and buy the same asset on the same day.”
“You have to have someone who tells the truth”
“Look, you’ll end up agreeing with me because you’re smart… and I’m right.”
He has absolutely no problem being number two with me.
“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Buffett. “Intelligence, energy and integrity.” And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two.
They have complete trust, complete faith, and complete belief in each other.
one guy has to let the other guy do the dance, but with these two dancers, that’s the way it should be.
Total isolation does not work. You need interaction, putting your own thoughts into expression; you learn things just from doing it.

Bill and Melinda Gates

They used to have these incredible fights all the time, just tantrums, and a lot of the tantrums and arguments resulted in very good decisions.
We were living together, we were growing up together, we were feeling good together, and we were feeling bad together.
Sometimes a desire to appear to be the boss convinces people you really are not. Moving into control takes control.
You’ve got to have somebody – one person who you can really open up with, and be weak with, and be afraid with, and be out of control with, or screwed with.
Whoever it was, we had to both be one hundred percent sure we wanted them.
How it helps you be smarter faster.
His intensity, intelligence, and sheer force of will

Brian Grazer and Ron Howard

Shared sense of what we want to accomplish together, and what we have in common.
Whatever kind of limitations there might be, whatever years one guy might be generating more earnings than the other – it’s all going to come out in the wash. And there’s a value in the partnership, there’s a value in the structure of that, sort of beyond monetary definition. It takes the scorekeeping out of it, that’s the big thing.
No scorekeeping – no worrying about who gets what – typically means that together, the team ends up scoring a lot more.
There’s never any blame, like you should learn this lesson, and we should both take this from this. No blame. Dark humor, yes and anger, but no blame.
They know that taking the high road leads to self and universal esteem and higher profits, and that the low road, the path traveled by far too many, leads only to the abyss of failure.

Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti

Giancarlo was there to let Valentino focus entirely on the creation of his masterpieces, and Giancarlo would deal with everything else.
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
Always be wary of the capabilities of a powerful zoom.

Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager

The mistakes of greed and ethical gaps
“He was out front, but it wasn’t as simple as he was the front man and I was the back man. And that responsibility, that division, happened totally naturally.”
If you’re an obsessive person in business, it works well. But you can’t stop being obsessive in your personal life, and can’t cut if off.
There may never be that one place that everyone knows is the most exclusive spot to go to, and be seen at.
“The real, real successful people do play by the rules. The medium-successful, maybe they don’t. But the really successful people are really as straight as can be, and really follow the rules.”
If you push toward the edge, you must make sure not to go over it-a fine but important distinction.
In the end, they were just two guys from Brooklyn who went to the top together, fell to the bottom together, and – on their way back to the top – had their partnership sadly cut short.

Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus

It succeeded by doing the unconventional, the unexpected, and at times, the unthinkable.
“It’s not just the partnership at the very top. I think when you create on partnership, it sends a message throughout the organization that partnerships are important. So we had lots of subpartnerships”
What they said was one hundred percent right, and I was one hundred percent wrong. And that had an effect on everything after that. I learned how to learn.
Number one, taking care of our customers; and number two, taking care of our people.
Success comes more from how you hire than how you train.
We didn’t succeed at providing the succession for the company for the two of us.
Is it good for the business? Will this have an effect on our employees? Everything we ever did, we had the same thoughts over and over again.
If you’re thinking about different things, that’s not healthy for anybody. But also, work with somebody you like. It is marriage – we spent a lot of hours together, and you want to have fun doing it.

Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken

I’d come in early – my shift started at eight, and I’d come in at five thirty”
“We were both really passionate and driven, with a strong work ethic, and we complemented each other.”
“Gravitated toward our own small businesses, rather than fighting through the ranks to get more money, or better positions. We wanted to call our own shots. We went through hell to get this education and we started in this tiny restaurant with a couple of hot plates because we just didn’t want to hit that ceiling and have a boss – a guy – determine our fate”
“What really makes me happy is creating as many systems that won’t let [chaos] happen.”
“I think we have both learned that in the middle, we come up with this balance that works.”
Going into business with someone takes trust. Growing that business with the same person takes even more trust.
Good partnership has to allow for a certain amount of separation.

Joe Torre and Don Zimmer

“I don’t just write a lineup and put it out there”
But managing or coaching a sports team is different. In fact, it’s not much different from managing a company.
In all team sports, leadership and selflessness and talent drive you in the right direction; so, too, in business.
“I had to separate myself from the friends I wanted to have dinner with, and hire the people who were going to help me do my job”
Zimmer, unafraid and uninhibited, was immediately comfortable with his role. As a game went on, he’d offer suggestions freely, concisely, and frequently.
“When I’ve got things on my mind, I’m going to run them by you. And I’m not going to be afraid to run them by you.”
If I’m smarter than the manager, I’m trying to help him. That’s what I’m there for. I want him to be the best he can be, and I want to be a part of it I can help him.
“We need to win, and I need to contribute what I can.”
“A true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength, but the strength of his heart.”

John Angeloo and Michael Gordon

Being successful but also for being conservative, reasonable, and ethical, attributes more critical than ever in financial circles.
“The first generation creates wealth, the second manages wealth, the third studies art history, and the fourth degenerates”
“I found areas where there was a real niche, and where I could really make some dough for the company.”
Stock options are problematic if, when you exercise them, you don’t sell enough to pay the taxman.
It’s actually about synergy.
“I knew he was smart as hell, and I knew he was scrupulously honest.”
“You know, you can lose money on a trade. You may not like it, but you can. But if you do anything to besmirch the reputation of this firm, you’re gone. And that’s the way it is.”
“Is it fair to the client? Is that the right thing to do?”, always putting the client first.
Constant struggle to remind them of what matters and what doesn’t matter.
“There are only two tragedies. One is not getting what you want, and the other is getting it.”

I really enjoyed going through each success stories and how the other person makes an impact in the life helping to make oneself better. Also, going through the book here are some characteristics I think should be sought within a partner:

Integrity
Intelligence
Energy
Critical Thinking
Synergy
Humility
Passionate
Non-blamer
Ethics
Trust
Freedom

Hope you enjoyed this summary of the book, “Working Together, Why Great Partnerships Succeed” by Michael D. Eisner. Also, don’t forget to follow me, as I will be posting the summaries of the book I read through. 🙂