Partnering by Jean Oelwang (2022) is a good read I recommend to those in any partnership, but especially those in business together. Jean details 6 degrees of connection that are necessary for any successful partnership. I will list the six and provide my summary of each.

1. Something bigger: Lift the purpose of your partnership to any higher purpose or mission. This could be anything from giving back to the community to addressing a global cause.
2. All-in: Each partner needs to feel safe in the relationship and have each other’s backs. It is hard to be all-in if you are not committed to each other.
3. The ecosystem: The partnership needs to be a moral ecosystem of enduring trust. Trust is to assume good intentions, create honest space for trust to grow, be transparent and clear, make hard conversations the norm, allow mistakes that build trust, watch your body language, and trust yourself. We have a tendency to trust people like us find others who are different.
4. Magnetic moments: Creating intentional rituals like a weekly breakfast or semiannual retreat. Then, determine to look at issues through curiosity and wonder instead of blame.
5. Celebrate friction: Turn conflict into opportunities, see your partner as having your best interest at heart, and assume good intentions. If you think this is nieve, then ask yourself, what have I got to lose? Another way to work with friction is to understand their “why” by building a history with them to see how their life experiences have influenced their behavior. How about asking yourself, “what if the other person is right?” Creating space is also essential to give you and your partner time to allow things to settle down. Jean brilliantly describes designing corrective mechanisms to help protect relationships from blowing up.  In a marriage it could mean divorce is not an option. In a business relationship, you can agree that either person has veto power if it is something that one partner says they just cannot live with. Other friction tools are having clear roles and responsibilities for each partner, not sweating the small stuff, and seeing the long game. Try to remember all the good traits the partner has and stay away from triggering words. Jean talks of positive amnesia, which is a great way to say to forgive, forget, and move on!
6. Collective connections: A framework to scale collaborations is the final degree of connection. This is finding others who are like minded and joining with them on a common goal or cause. It can be philanthropic in nature of a way to grow all businesses