Good Partnerships
I’m frequently asked how other CEOs put together and execute good partnerships. I was thinking about this yesterday when I had the great pleasure of having lunch with one of our clients and suppliers — a true partner. As I drove home from that lovely lunch in a natural setting — sun shining and a perfect 75 degrees — I reflected on the spirit of good partnership that was truly in the air.
The partner I’m talking about is Charles Thiede, Co-founder & CEO of Zapnito. Zapnito is a client. It is also a key vendor, as our product IT delivery platform and overall technology architecture are built with the Zapnito solution firmly anchored in the center. It is the hub of our overall architecture. At Outsell, we have a do-not-barter policy in our public ethics and integrity playbook, and from the get-go, both companies did business with each other because we had a legitimate need for each other’s services and chose to pay for them. And from that foundation, a stronger partnership and friendship emerged.
What makes a strong partnership?
- Shared values
- Shared goals
- Commitment to each other’s success
The Outsell-Zapnito relationship embodies all three of these.
A willingness to communicate openly and even go “into the danger” — having the tough conversations — is an outcome of a good partnership. You can do that when the other three items are in place because the spirit of communication is always understood — it’s toward a greater good for both parties.
Partnerships aren’t more complicated than that. Yes, there are economic factors that are a part of many partnerships, but even financial considerations fall into the three items above. If you have a commitment to mutual success and shared goals and values, the financial terms ideally will reflect that. Money sometimes gets in the way of good partnerships, but that’s because the other three items aren’t in place.
At the end of the day, it helps to like your partner. To have fun with them. To laugh and, thankfully now, break bread, something we couldn’t do for over a year thanks to COVID-19.
This partnership was built largely during a pandemic. Ironically, I had a visit with Charles and his team in London in late February 2020 as Italy’s breakout was emerging and it became clear that this thing was going to run rampant. I got home, and Charles came out to California a week or so later. He was the last client I visited in our office at the start of the pandemic. He went back home and stayed home — the pandemic was on. And yesterday, he was the first client I saw out of the office “post”-pandemic.
Our visits book-ended one of the greatest tragedies in modern civilization. And everything we did in between — including launching Zapnito’s technology, re-platforming Outsell, planning sprints, and executing releases — was done virtually and via Zoom. We did it with Charles and his CTO and co-founder in London, me in California, my CTO in Indianapolis, my head of IT operations in Austin, and my head of data and analytics in New England. So there we were, scattered to the wind, executing a major IT effort with Zoom as our connective tissue.
I would argue that shared values, shared goals, a mutual commitment to success, the ability to have the tough conversations, and liking the guy or gal you’re relying on made a huge difference no matter where we were in the world or how virtually or physically we worked together. Would a white board have helped? Sure. Was it fun to break bread in the California sunshine? Of course. But none of that was essential to getting good work done because the foundational elements of our partnership are solid and in place. That’s how good partnerships are built.
Besides, who else could you get in a small elevator with, masked up, to take a selfie with. Now that’s a great partner!
