Alliances & Partnerships

2020 Challenges in Alliances & Partnerships

Last week I performed a short survey on LinkedIn. I asked the following question to a group of alliances and partnerships professionals: “What do you see as your biggest challenges with regards to Alliances & Partnerships for 2020?” I received...

2020: let’s lower the alliance failure rate!

Happy New Year! We just entered a new decade: Goodbye ‘10s, hello ‘20s! In the past few weeks I have seen a few articles with reference to the roaring twenties of the previous century. It made me wonder: what exactly...

Focus as your guiding star

Last week I had a conversation with my friend Mark about both our businesses. We particularly spoke about marketing and how to get the seats filled. For Mark on his 4x4 Discovery travels, for me in the open Alliance Masterclasses. ...

Is it OK to say NO?

I like clarity. Whenever I make a proposal to a prospective client, I like to hear within reasonable time how we are taking it forward. Do I need to alter the proposal? Do we continue as proposed? Or does the...

Is your 2020 going to be stellar?

Just in case you haven’t noticed yet: It is already December! The last month of the year and the month of many festivities. Some would say it is the darkest month of the year, and it also seems to be...

The benefits of performing alliance health checks

One of the reasons to work together in partnerships and alliances, is that it can be more efficient or cost effective than performing the task alone. Generally this principle is well understood. However, it is not always performed in such...

I Love Feedback!

Last week I received an email from one of my readers with feedback on my weekly newsletter. She was kind enough to point me to a failing link in one of the linked articles, which I thankfully corrected. This feedback...

What’s holding you back?

Last week I read an article by Marshall Goldsmith that describes how the beliefs executives have about themselves, helped them to get where they are now. However, at the same time these beliefs are holding them back from moving forward....

Alliances: Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

Our home improvement project has reached a new stage. The “must do” projects are done and we are now entering the stage of “nice to have” projects. These projects take much more time in preparation, as there is no deadline....

Needs & Contributions matrix – part 2

In an in-company Alliance Masterclass last week, the participants worked the Needs & Contributions matrix on one of their existing alliances. The purpose of this exercise in the class was to have them take a step back and look at...

The triple win in alliances

When you enter into an alliance or partnership with another organization, your primary reason to do so might be for your own gain. The partnership will bring you benefits that you would not have without the partnership. Recently, a company...

A glass half full or a glass half empty?

In a recent seminar, one of the keynote speakers shared a story about a glass half full. He picked up his glass of water and looked at the audience for confirmation that the glass was indeed full. Everybody nodded. He...