Once upon a time, many moons ago, on a Saturday afternoon in March, a friend came to visit me and asked me to join him to go to a party that night. It really didn’t appeal to me, as it was a birthday party for someone who I didn’t know.
Despite my reservations against going to the party my friend insisted and used the argument that Yvonne would be there too. I knew who Yvonne was, I had seen her twice before, but her being there was, at that time, no special reason for me to go along to the party.
With a simple “I’ll pick you up at nine tonight” my persistent friend left and I apparently had no choice but to join him and go to the party that evening.
When we arrived at the party I coincidentally ended up sitting next to Yvonne and the rest, as they say, is history. Now, 38 years later, we are still happily together.
Was it a kind of clairvoyance that our friend had, a gut feeling or was it just down to good luck?
Ideally, strategic alliances are not created based on the gut feelings of C-level executives. Over the course of my career I’ve witnessed many situations where C-level initiated partnerships don’t go the distance or never come to fruition.
Partner selection and assessment is an essential, foundational, element for creating successful partnerships that should not be taken lightly!
To assist you in your own alliance partner selection process, I have written a step-by-step partner selection book. Together with a supporting tool, the book will guide the reader through the whole partner-selection process and help you to find the best partner for your own situation.
The tool is also very helpful to apply to your existing partnerships. It will guide you in identifying the differences between your company and your partner’s company. Knowing those differences is essential, because they are the elements that you will need to actively manage during the lifetime of your partnership! You can obtain your copy of the book through this link.