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Choose your business partner ruthlessly and always put yourself first
Much has been written about this, yet we repeatedly make the same mistake: choosing the wrong partner for our business venture. Today, I’ll share my own experience. A few years ago, I welcomed a financial professional from Wall Street to my team. I did so because I lacked financial expertise and needed complementary skills for my sales and marketing capabilities. While I had the right idea, my execution was poor. I was “seduced” by his Wall Street title, financial market knowledge, and ease in discussing multimillion-dollar transactions. Due to my insecurity and lack of due diligence, he bulldozed himself into the team. Unfortunately, my inability to see his “baggage” narcissism, arrogance, ego, and lack of integrity, led me to welcome a negative influence into my life. In short, by bringing him into my team, I gained financial skills but also introduced intolerable characteristics that damaged the entire team and, ultimately, the clients of my women empowerment and environmental practice.
I share my experience to guide other entrepreneurs and decision-makers facing pressure to make smart hiring or partnership decisions. Before delving into specific aspects, here are my three metrics for choosing a business partner: 1) Integrity; 2) high energy; and 3) complementary skills. The rest can be worked out if these non-negotiable…
