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By Danine Alati
When choosing a life partner, we tend to be very particular and discerning. You might want to put just as much thought into selecting your business partner, especially if your goal is to build a long-lasting relationship with an individual who will help your company prosper. Professional expertise and aesthetic vision may be top of mind in your search, but just as important are a person’s personality traits, trustworthiness, and values. Indeed, this is someone who you may end up spending as much time with as anyone else in your life (if not more).
When it comes to finding that individual, the search may take time. Richard Gluckman, founding partner of AD100 firm Gluckman Tang Architects, advises, “Identify people within your firm who have the potential to grow into a partnership role. [Then] provide autonomy, responsibility, and support. If looking outside, look for potential partners among like-minded colleagues with complementary skill sets who may be ready for a move.”
Is it time to expand the leadership of your firm? Gluckman, Nate Berkus, Samantha Josaphat, and Ron Radziner and Leo Marmol elaborate on what makes their own business relationships successful, and what to consider when taking on a partner of your own.
Identify skills you need
“I’d suggest evaluating in what areas a prospective partner could bring value to your business—and not necessarily just provide additional man- or woman-power,” explains Samantha Josaphat, principal of Studio 397 Architecture. She knew she wanted to bring on an individual who could be involved on the technical construction side of her projects as well as advise on budget, and she thought that her fiancé Luis Medina-Carreto fit the bill with his background in finance and construction management. “We needed someone who would diversify the skills and experience in our company in order to grow as a boutique yet well-rounded firm,” says Josaphat, who brought on Medina-Carreto as a business partner earlier this year.
Gluckman seconds that notion, sharing that a design partner should be “someone who can help realize a core part of the strategic plan that would otherwise be unrealized or under-tended.” He named his longtime colleague Dana Tang a partner in 2015, after she demonstrated talent, hard work, and “uncompromising pursuit of great design” at the 25-person firm for 20 years. “A partner can be the ideal way to…help move [a company’s] goals forward,” he says.
Look for good differences
Ron Radziner, design partner at AD100 firm Marmol Radziner, points out that having different experiences from your partner is key to avoiding conflict. “Our partnership works, because we made a commitment to a shared aesthetic and level of quality in our designs and construction. However, our background and concerns are pretty different,” he says of his relationship with Leo Marmol, the managing partner at the 200-plus-person firm, which the duo co-founded in 1989. “Some overlap in background and interest is obviously good, but you want to avoid working with someone who wants to do the exact same things as you.”
In their office, each leader assumes distinct roles. “As managing partner, I field most of the day-to-day new business inquiries and track these potential projects,” Marmol explains. “This allows Ron to oversee the design progress of every project. When projects begin to take shape in the construction phase, we both visit sites to make sure things are going smoothly.” Maintaining some autonomy ultimately helps advance the firm’s goals. “We bring different perspectives, and we often differ in opinion, which ultimately broadens the depth of experience between us,” Marmol says.
Reinforce shared vision and values
While distinct points of view can contribute to the strength of a business, sharing like-minded core beliefs is vital. “It’s very important that you share the same vision and set of values—about design, about how to approach the business, and also in life in general,” says AD100 interior designer Nate Berkus, who named Lauren Buxbaum Gordon the first-ever partner of his 25-year-old eponymous design firm last year. “Lauren has worked for me for 18 years. We’ve literally grown up together,” Berkus says. “She has been a constant at the firm and helped navigate all kinds of things over the years. It felt like the right time to acknowledge that contribution and let her step into a leadership role.”
Don’t forget about personality
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“When I put someone in a leadership role, it’s because I really trust them. And I really trust Lauren’s vision and ability to help shepherd the firm forward,” Berkus says of Gordon, adding that “the ability to have hard conversations when needed” is also crucial.
Like any good relationship, working with a colleague whose personality jibes with yours and who gets you through stressful, challenging situations with poise, humor, and support will make all the difference. Gluckman emphasizes, “While you don’t need to—and probably shouldn’t—agree on everything, it is important that you and your partners have shared core beliefs, mutual respect, and bring out the best in each other.”
Berkus adds, “And you’ve also got to enjoy spending time with that person—or else what’s the point?”
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