The partners we work with are very large corporations that have a wealth of experience, knowledge, and insight into aspects of our industry that we sometimes do not. It's therefore important we listen to them when they offer to share such knowledge. I've seen other businesses treat their business partners as the enemy and I wonder how any business gets done at all under such adversarial tension. Typically these relationships are one-off and disintegrate at the conclusion of the project. Our philosophy from the start has been quite the opposite. Our strategy is to be the best partner we can possibly be in all relationships so that repeat business is not just possible, but desirable from both ends.
We showed our game recently to one of our partners and got some feedback that, if acted upon, would probably set us back a month or two in production, add risk/scope to the project, and possibly just not work at all. The changes did not mesh exactly with the vision, but we saw that with some effort it could be made to work. We had a choice; we could dig in our heels and preach the vision in hopes to convert, or we could put on the Captain hat, listen to our partner, and course correct the vision. Their feedback was coming from a source of experience and data that we did not have access to. Our intuition told us their numbers were off, but by how much was an unknown. We decided to trust our partner, take the calculated risk, and course correct. In the end, I believe we have a better game because of it. It would have been easy for us to dig in and possibly even get offended by the suggestion to alter the vision, but I'm proud of our flexibility and our willingness to do what it takes to take a game from good to great.
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