個案資料

Committing yourself romantically to another ambitious person requires committing to their career as well as your own—which creates challenges that must be overcome to benefit from the partnership. After all, committing to two careers often requires one partner to take a time-out from ambition. Lost in most discussions of “power couples” is the fact that the real power of these couples is only tapped when both members of the partnership are focused on the same goals. When two people share the same career objective, the pair’s combined energy, skills, wits, and actions are enhanced. Two founders working toward a common goal will often fare better than one working alone. Like everything else in business, making a power couple business partnership work requires strategic planning, and many leadership teams can benefit from having a combination of technical and creative partners. The author recommends the following three key practices: First, one spouse must not report to the other. This will help mitigate the risk of casual dinner-table conversation turning into a performance review. Second, leadership roles should be defined. To help do this, both partners should consider taking a personality test to identify similarities and differences. Third, celebrate your business successes as a couple.

• power couples
• entrepreneurial leadership
• startup management
• leadership teams