Building Partnership for Transformation

Everywhere you look you are sure to see innovative partnerships at work. Be it the Hewlett Packard laptop with an Intel processor, beats audio speakers and running on Microsoft windows or a Boeing 747 running on a Rolls Royce Engine, innovative partnerships run the world. Phones have cameras, voice recorders and different applications all produced by different people. The ability to blend all these masterpieces of creativity and innovation together in one platform called a phone is what makes that platform unique.

It is important that we constantly ask ourselves who we can partner with to increase the scope of what we are doing. Who can we partner with to multiply our income? Who can we partner with to increase our quality? Who can we partner with to expand our reach?

Whether as an individual or as a company, innovative partnerships are key to growth. Networks are key to net worth. Networks are not just for the sake of having networks. They are to help you. There is no point in knowing people if you cannot make a demand on the network when you need to. Human network failure is when we do not build our relationships to the point where we can make a demand on them when needed. What is the delivering power of the networks in your life? This is the fundamental question that will show the measure of a relationship. To build great partnerships or networks we must offer great value. Seeking for value without offering value is parasitic and will not take off. We need to innovatively build the partnerships that can help us deliver the innovation that will take us to the next level. On the individual level we must not be ignorant about the purpose of networks and we must invest in the relationship before there is need for a demand. We must build value and then innovatively identify the partnerships that will help us multiply the effect and efficiency of the value that we have built.

Many people and organizations have subjected themselves to environments that dilute innovation. The more people that have to deliberate over an issue before it can be passed the more likely it is to become diluted. It is important to pair first class minds with other first class minds. The result will be first class products and ideas. When first class minds are paired with third class minds ideas get diluted.

For this reason it is important that meetings where decisions are going to be made on innovation should only be attended by the essential minds necessary and not a mass of minds. When there are too many people in a meeting where important decisions are to be made and where innovative thinking is going to be required, there will be a temptation to be open to all views and this will kill innovation. The blunt truth is that innovation rarely occurs within the context of democracy.

Not every brilliant person is brilliant in everything. Everyone has their zone. Meetings should be made up of relevant people who will find their zone in the meeting and not just a gathering of people for the sake of gathering or being politically correct. Small teams with a concentration of superior first class mind power will do exponentially more than large teams with a dilution of mind power.

Great empires were built by strong leaders who were able to inspire others with their ideas and not by panels. Similarly, great companies were built by strong visionaries and not by committees.

Wale Akinyemi