Complimentary Is Contradictory

At the inauguration of our business centre, I selected a few people to be awarded for their business excellence. One of the receivers was quite impressed with our organization. He called me after the event and we went for lunch. Our relationship evolved. We started investing in a couple of ventures together. He was bringing a lot to the table that I couldn't just by myself. He was complimenting my traits.

Eventually, after travelling a few times together, we partnered. At the beginning of our partnership everything was going well. We were both happy. After all we were complementing each other. He was a very strong salesperson, which is the bloodline of a business, and I was spending most of my time systemizing our operation. They were both needed to succeed.

Everything was going well until one day I woke up and realized that most of the sales either did not go through or fell apart after the paperwork was signed. After digging in, we noticed that we had a fantastic sales volume with low closing ratio. Even after closing, we had people changing their mind and not happy with doing business with us. The main problem was overpromising.

My partner was promising services that we were either not yet ready to provide or we didn't have the capacity or resources. For him, making the sales happen was the top priority. Delivering what he promised was not his concern. He was not worried as to what might happen after the sales. He simply believed that more sales mean more business. That is it. For me, delivering what we promised was more important as I believed in the benefits of long term reputation. This different style of doing business created a friction between the two of us.

Traditionally, we have always been told to look for a complimentary partner; a person who compliments our traits, skills and talents. A complimentary business partner is also a complimentary personality. It means that individual has a different personality than us. They see the world differently from us. They have different set of values from us. As a result, they do business differently.

The difference of opinion not only shows up in our business style but every aspect of conducting ourselves. This difference of behavior could lead to contradictions and sometimes could lead to conflicts. Partnership is a long term commitment and no one wants to be in a conflicting relationship.

We definitely need a complimentary person to fill our shortcomings. Most of us, if not all, have a shortcoming that we can not overcome by ourselves. So, what could be the solution? How can we have our cake and eat it too? How can we have the benefits of a complimentary partnership without the luggage that comes with it.

The solution is to change the term of our relationship. Instead of committing to each other, we go for an open relationship. The beauty of open relationship is that whenever we are full of each other, we can take break or part ways. When there is nothing tying us together, we tend to easily take breaks from our relationship whenever we feel like it. As a result, we are not in an "awkward" situation. Simply knowing that we have the option to take a break, in itself, is a release which helps to make the relationship work better. When we are not obligated, we tend to be attracted.

Our Co-Contributor compliments our traits but at the same time there is nothing that obliges us to be together. We come together whenever we wish. At the core of this relationship is mutual benefit. We are looking out for each other to be successful. There are not many conflict of interest situations. If and when we are contradicting with each other, it is not because we have our own personal interest involved but rather it is because of the best interest of our Co-Contributor. We genuinely believe in what we propose. There is no personal interest and our Co-Contributor knows this. Knowing that our Co-Contributor has no interest calms us down even if we have a strong difference of opinion.

Co-Contribution is the ultimate solution to partnerships. Amongst many other issues with partnering, having contradictory personalities is the biggest issue. On one hand, we need a complimentary partner to fulfill our shortcomings but on the other hand, complimentary means contradictory personalities. That is why most partnerships do not last that long.

Co-Contribution takes care of this issue by bringing the complimenting value of our co-contributor and significantly limits the drawbacks of contradiction by keeping the relationship open and minimizes conflict of interest situations.