Can 1 + 1 = 3?
Recently, I met a fascinating person. He was a productivity consultant and, frankly, for the first thirty minutes, he was exactly what you might expect a productivity consultant to be. Then he said something that made me sit up. He said: “You should always try to beat the math.” His idea was simple. If two people come together and all they do is duplicate each other, you haven't really created a partnership. You have created two people doing the work of two people. But if one person brings something the other doesn't have, something interesting happens. 1 + 1 can become 3. That got me thinking. We sometimes choose people for the wrong reasons. We choose business partners because we like them. We choose friends because we have things in common. We choose people to work with because they think like we do. And there is nothing wrong with any of that. But perhaps there is another question worth asking: What do they bring that I don't? Not because we need to find someone who is “better” than us at everything. Quite the opposite. We need someone who is better than us at something that matters. Someone whose strength sits naturally beside our weakness. That is where the magic happens. Immediately, two thoughts crossed my mind. First, my grandparents. My grandfather was exceptionally good at earning money. He enjoyed negotiating and getting the best possible price for his work. My grandmother had a completely different talent. She knew how to buy. Not cheaply. She knew value. She knew when something was worth paying for, and when it wasn't. My grandfather was good at bringing money in. My grandmother was good at making sure it went a long way. Different strengths. Probably, that’s how they raised five children . Secondly, Two of my roommates once went into the silk garment business together. One spoke Mandarin and was willing to travel to China six times a year. The other couldn't speak a word of Mandarin. But he was a terrific salesman. One could navigate the factories, suppliers and conversations on the ground. The other could walk into a major retailer and sell the finished product. Neither one could have built the same business alone. Together, they became considerably more powerful than either was individually. And suddenly the consultant's sentence made more sense. The best partnerships aren't necessarily made between equals. They are made between people whose strengths fit together. Perhaps that is one of the quiet secrets of good relationships. We don't need people who are exactly like us. We need people who make the combination better. Maybe the goal isn't to find someone who is better than you, rather it is to find someone who makes both of you better together. The most interesting person in the room may not be the person who thinks exactly like you. It may be the person who sees something you cannot yet see. Two people creating a third thing that didn't exist before they met. So, I ask you, who is the person in your life that tilts the math in your favor? Until tomorrow, Bob
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