CREATIVE SUCCESS NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 30, 2000 NUMBER EIGHT

PARTNERSHIPS AND ALLIANCES

Creative Success Secret #8 is about the importance of selecting empowering
partnerships and alliances. Whether or not to work with others in your
creative endeavors is a crucial decision, requiring both self-assessment
and the careful selection of collaborators. For some people, working
alone is a joy; for others, the isolation drains their energy and
motivation.

If you are thinking about a creative alliance or partnership, your first
inquiry is at what stage, if any, of the creative process do you want
participation? Do you want to co-create a television show or a company or
a social action movement with one other person or with a group? Or do you
want to protect your creative freedom to develop your vision and execute
it without interference? Before you approach a potential
partner/alliance, your first step is to ask yourself what you truly want.
To help you assess your collaboration potential and pitfalls, I strongly
advise you to take the time to complete the extensive Collaboration
Profile questionnaire in my book The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women
on pages 136-139. By the end of it, you will have crystal clear vision of
how successful you are at collaborating with others and what you need to
watch out for before you move ahead with possible collaborators. In my
book I profiled several partnerships and alliances, like Pat and Barbara
at Vera Bradley and Chris Madden and her husband Kevin, that DO work
successfully to give you some great role models.

If you are pondering a partnership/alliance yourself, here are a few
dynamics to ponder beforehand:

THE URGE TO MERGE

Many entrepreneurs, especially women (pardon the stereotype, but my
research supports this statement), fall pray to a fear of doing a business
or a project alone. So they grab the nearest warm body and form an
alliance without carefully negotiating business issues in advance. In my
25 years of working with clients, I have seen this pattern far too often.
When two people consult with me about setting up a partnership/alliance, I
give them the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to help them zero in on
their personal workstyle, strengths, and weaknesses, have them complete my
Collaboration Profile, and then ask them to write a business plan together
with very specific info on work hours, investments and expenses, division
of labor, etc. If they are still interested in working together, I then
send them to a lawyer, an accountant, and the Small Business Development
Center for input and advice. Only a few folks pass all of these hurdles
and actually get together. Business partnerships break up more often than
marriages, so proceed with caution.

DON'T BUY A CAR UNTIL YOU'VE DRIVEN IT IN THE CITY AND ON THE HIGHWAY

Before you pursue a collaboration with another person, a group, or an
organization, try a test drive first. Do a project together as an
experiment, share an office for a while, or go to a conference together.
Be on the alert for signs of incompatibility as well as signs of
compatibility. There's an old expression that "hungry people make poor
shoppers", so try to stay objective and centered in the process.
Relationships work best with equal partners who value their own
contributions and can communicate well with others. Talk to other people
about this person/group/organization and get their feedback and
impressions. How do you feel when you are around them yourself? Do they
attract other people or deter them? Have they had successful alliances
before and with whom? Do your research thoroughly.

TRUST IS THE PRIMARY INGREDIENT

When I talk with a client who has disengaged from a disastrous partnership
or alliance, I ask them if there were clues they overlooked. Generally,
the answer is "Yes". Often he/she just had a "funny feeling about this
person" or "didn't quite believe what they were saying" or "suspected a
hidden agenda", etc. Your intuition is a powerful gift, so turn it up
full volume and listen to its wisdom. If you are at all uncomfortable
with the words or actions of a potential collaborator, raise all your
issues, up front. In any partnership, there are and will be disagreements
and different perspectives. The question is, can they be communicated
effectively and resolved, or not? Trust grows when both parties are
equally committed to the success of the relationship and respect the
feelings and thoughts of each other. Never work with people you don't
respect or trust-it's a sure way to get burned. Honor yourself enough to
shop carefully for people of integrity and good interpersonal skills to
play with creatively.

Exercise #8: NEW YEAR'S CHALLENGE

Acknowledge your creative self and how it's grown in 2000. What new
insights have you gained this year? What have you been inspired to
explore? What have you completed and what is still undone? You have a
brand new year ahead of you. What would you like to create now? Identify
a project and draft an action plan using the 8 out of 12 Secrets we have
now discussed in these newsletters. What thoughts/actions will insure
your success? What are your potential barriers/pitfalls? Are there other
people you want to invite into you creative space? Make a 2001 Treasure
Map with pictures and captions that illustrate your vision and meditate on
it daily. A year from now, we'll celebrate your results!

Creating Community and Results

To ensure that you meet your goals, I am running Creative Project Coaching
Teleclasses. If you are ready to commit to a creative project or a path
of inspiration, this 6 week tele-coaching class will help you to fine-tune
your vision, develop, and execute an action plan to meet your goals. If
you are ready for creative results, this group will inspire you and keep
you accountable. These teleclasses will run for an hour and a half and
include the following topics:

*Visioning your Passion
*Committing to Results
*Selecting your Steps and Style
*Strategizing around Roadblocks and Saboteurs
*Leveraging Learnings
*Celebrating Outcomes

You will complete a series of exercises each week and actively pursue your
creative goals between sessions fortified with lots of stimulation and
group support! Class size is limited to ten creative souls and several
spaces are already taken, so sign up early. The class will take place
from 11:30 AM to 1 PM EST (a great way to spend a lunch break) on the
following Tuesdays: January 16 and 30, February 13 and 27, and March 13
and April 3, 2001. The fee is $300.00 and can be charged to a credit card
or paid by check. To sign up, you can either email me at
gail@creativesuccess.com or fax me at 617-323-1963 with a description of
your creative interest and your billing info. I will get back to you
with the bridge line info shortly. Join us for a celebration of your
creative ideas and a journey towards the life-changing satisfaction of
completion.

Best wishes for a creative and fulfilling year!

Creatively yours,

Gail McMeekin