by Mark Brigman
As a six-year veteran of the Marine Corps, I noticed the stark contrast in leadership philosophies between the private sector and the military—and it didn’t take long. Leadership is the art and science of creating environments, both physical and emotional, that inspire others to achieve feats that go beyond the limits of what seems possible. Extraordinary achievements can be gained when the right people and the right tools are aimed in the right direction. It is the leader’s responsibility to create the best environment possible to support success regardless if we are talking about strategic partnerships or organizing a church mission trip.
Leadership is a choice and a commitment, not a job description. It is a social expectation that the leader will be willing to make personal sacrifices to protect the best interests of the group—esprit de corps. But in corporate America, our leaders all too often turn into survivalists, and they frequently sacrifice their employees or their partners so they may live for another day. This display of poor leadership undermines the credibility of the “so called leader” and their company. Furthermore, it shows lower level employees and business partners that self-interest and self-survival is more important than group survival.
Employees at all levels (CEO to individual contributor) will become their environment—good or bad. It is the responsibility of leaders to create environments that become fertile soil for growth and prosperity. As a business leader, if your company, your people, or your partnerships are not thriving, it is because you have not created a fertile environment. Envision the environment that you want within your company, work to build that environment, and you will begin to attract others who also seek your conducive environment.
Finally, let us be reminded that “The true art and science of developing successful strategic partnerships is ultimately dependent upon people and their abilities to create, implement, and execute a partnering plan—LEADERSHIP!” As a leader, regardless of your individual level, your responsibility is to create and foster an environment of trust, respect, and confidence with a clear vision of what success looks like. Don’t manage the teams in the minutia, but lead them with the environment.
I hope the content in PARTNERNOMICS has inspired you to want to take your company to the next level. There is no doubt growing a business is one of the greatest challenges imaginable. But this is precisely why we are drawn to it—the ultimate challenge! Good luck in your venture. May God bless you. And please connect with us and share your experiences with using PARTNERNOMICS and the Strategic Partner Leadership Model.
PART III
End-to-End Strategic Partnership Outline
Define a Strategic Partnership Contractual agreement
Between two or more companies
That provides mutual benefit to the partners
The intent is to create a competitive advantage
Understand the Partnership Success Pyramid (5 imperatives for a successful partnering relationship) Trust
Alignment
Transparency
Esprit de corps (commitment)
Results
Your Opportunities for Business Growth Business Growth Options Organic
Acquisition
Partnership
Business Growth Analysis Tools SWOT Analysis Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Constraints Model
6-Cs Framework Competitors
Customers
Complements
Capabilities
Concepts
Capacities
Strategic Partnering Process Strategic Partnership Plan (SPP) Who, What, Where, When, Why, How
Term Sheet
Non-Disclosure Agreement
Identify Partner Candidates
Evaluating Candidates for Fit
Negotiating a Win-Win Agreement
Implementing the Strategic Partner Leadership Model VISION
TEAMS
GOALS
METRICS
PROCESSES
RESULTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR – MARK BRIGMAN
Words cannot express how humbled I am that you are choosing to read PARTNERNOMICS. This book has been a labor of love and I hope that you find value in reading it. My intense passion for building businesses and successful strategic partnerships is probably best told by a quick story from my early days as a college student. I vividly remember needing to come home as a college sophomore to refresh my laundry. You know how that goes as a poor college student.
I think my parents felt bad for me so they decided to take me out for a steak dinner. During the drive back home my dad said, “After tomorrow you will not have to worry about college or working ever again.” Perplexed by his comment I asked, “Why is that?” He informed me that he had bought what would become the next winning lottery ticket and I was going to receive at least $20 million after the winnings were divided. He then asked me what I would do if I had $20 million in the bank. Without pausing I said, “I would continue in college until I earned a Ph.D., and then I would dedicate the rest of my life working with business leaders to helping them grow more meaningful companies.”
That conversation took place nearly 25 years ago. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the winning lottery ticket. But since then, I have been able to align myself to fulfill my dream of working with business leaders to accelerate company growth. I jokingly describe myself as a “partnership-oholic” and add that I have not found a good treatment plan for the addiction.
I was all but predestined to work with business leaders to help them efficiently grow their companies into more meaningful enterprises. I am the son of two life-long business owners. My mother spent the majority of her career in the cosmetology industry, owning several salons in addition to other ventures along the way. After graduating high school, my father partnered with his father to run a trucking and excavating company for more than four decades. Until the late 1990s, his company was one of the largest of its kind in the Greater Kansas City market.
I vividly remember attending the pre-school that was directly up the hill from his company office. As a 4-year-old, I would stand gazing out the windows with hopes of catching a glimpse of him, the businessman, as he traveled to various jobsites working on business deals. It seemed big trucks and heavy machines were traveling to and from his business all day long. I watched his business grow from just a few small dump trucks to having a six acre office site packed full of revenue generating machines.
Early on I was taught the basics about business management and leadership. My parents taught me that great people can develop great people, and great people can build great businesses. And they do it by focusing on people, not necessarily by focusing on business. It may sound confusing, but business success always depends on people success. Unfortunately, most business leaders lose sight of this fact until it is too late. At the tender age of four, I knew I wanted to be a business leader and dedicate my life to becoming a humble student of business and leadership. I wanted to understand the practical “real-world” lessons regarding business growth as well as the philosophical models and theories that were being offered in the academic settings.
I must also confess that my ideas on leadership run deep and probably a bit stronger than the average person. Fascinated by the art and science of leadership, I knew I wanted to join the United States Marine Corps. I wanted to be trained, first hand, by an organization with more than 240 years of experience in developing some of the strongest leaders that our nation has ever known. At the ripe age of 17, I enlisted in the Marines. I received an “all expenses paid” trip to sunny San Diego for 13 weeks of enlisted boot camp. And if that wasn’t enough fun, three years later I was blessed to be selected to attend Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia, where I finished as an honor graduate. My experiences in the Marine Corps were incredible, and I am honored to have served with such great, loyal patriots.
The Marine Corps’ philosophy is to build confident, c
ompetent, and trusting teams that are committed to fight until the mission is accomplished. This approach taught me two very important lessons about business: 1) being able to motivate, influence, and lead people is essential for success and, 2) unless your mission is accomplished, you are not finished, you have not yet won.
Since exiting my 6-year tour in the Marines nearly 20 years ago, I have been fortunate to manage strategic partnerships with some of the largest companies in the world. Experiences that I draw upon for PARTNERNOMICS include managing hundreds of partnerships while working thirteen years for a Fortune 100 technology firm, being COO and Senior Executive for national software firms, running my own businesses, consulting with hundreds of business owners, teaching graduate and undergraduate business courses, and studying business and leadership at the doctoral level.
It is from a wide range of experiences that I draw upon in order to offer this book on strategic partnering best practices. You do not have to look far in order to find great business books that describe best practices on culture, process, business operations, or outsourcing. I have not found, however, a framework of strategic partnering best practices that are organized into a usable toolkit that business leaders can immediately implement. If you are looking for creative ways to exponentially grow profits, while mitigating costs, risks, and time, PARTNERNOMICS will become your new best friend.
FIDELIS ONE
FIDELIS ONE is a national provider of Strategic Partnership Consulting & Coaching services designed to help organizations achieve a competitive advantage by leveraging the power of strategic business partnerships. We work with business leaders from companies of all sizes. Our expert coaches, proprietary tools, resources, and processes enable our clients to transform their growth-oriented organizations by becoming better managers and leaders of strategic partnerships.
FIDELIS ONE clients utilize its proprietary Strategic Partner Leadership Model™ (SPLM) that provides a step-by-step, facilitated process to:
Clearly set vision, mission, and core values that will govern your organization and partnerships.
Architect new or reengineer existing partner leadership teams;
Identify company and partnership goals that ultimately define success for your partnership(s).
Identify and begin to collect key performance metrics that will help to streamline the management of the partnership.
Define core business processes for your organization and your partnership to optimize partner interactions.
Continual coaching and leadership to facilitate success.
FIDELIS ONE was founded by Mark Brigman a 20-year veteran in the specialized discipline of strategic partnerships. Mark has been called an international expert on forging strategic partnerships. Throughout his career he has architected and managed hundreds of strategic partnerships, including relationships with multi-billion dollar corporations, such as: ABC, Disney, Sony, AT&T, Nokia, Ericsson, FOX Networks, Verizon, and NBC Universal, just to name a few.
For more information, please visit: www.FidelisOne.com
FIDELIS ONE – SPLM PROGRAM
The intent of this powerful and transformative engagement is to initiate a full implementation of the Strategic Partner Leadership Model (SPLM) within a client’s organization. This engagement starts with a half-day Strategic Partnering Check-Up where the SPLM Implementer assesses the needs of your organization and lays the groundwork for a successful implementation. Next, the SPLM Implementer conducts a two-day session starting with Strategic Partnering Best Practices (Chapters 1-4) and then closes by setting the SPLM Framework (Chapters 5-10) into place.
Our client’s Partner Development Leaders (PDLs) / team will continue to work with the SPLM Implementer for on-going half-day sessions until the SPLM framework is fully implemented. This process generally takes one year to complete. The PDLs will have access to additional training and resources between the monthly half-day implementation sessions. The SPLM Implementers are also available for continued coaching between monthly sessions, if needed.
SPLM Implementation services are designed for companies of all sizes and they can be customized to best suit your organization’s needs. The Strategic Partnering Check-Up and the two-day (Strategic Partnering Best Practices and SPLM Framework Implementation) sessions are conducted in-person. The Monthly Check-in may be in-person, video chat, or telephone conversations. The program is flexible so it offers maximum value based upon your organization’s specific needs.
To learn more about the transformative SPLM Implementation program, please visit: www.FidelisOne.com.
FIDELIS ONE – WORKSHOPS
These information-packed sessions are offered at client’s locations for an organization specific delivery, as well as public venues for general education purposes.
Strategic Partnership Essentials (7 Hour)
This is a full-day seminar that focuses on strategic partnership best practices (Chapters 1-4) during the first-half and focus shifts to the Strategic Partner Leadership Model (Chapters 5-10) in the second-half. Attendees gain valuable insights that will enable them to implement the SPLM framework within their own organization. If companies need additional training after the public seminar, half-day workshops are offered for individual elements of the SPLM framework as well as general overviews that address multiple concepts of the strategic partnership framework.
Half-Day Workshops
Partnership Best Practices (Chapters 1-4)
Imperatives to Partnership Success (Chapter 2)
Business Growth Strategies (Chapter 3)
Partnership Process (Chapter 4)
SPLM Overview (Chapters 5-10)
VISION Element (Chapter 5)
TEAMS Element (Chapter 6)
GOALS Element (Chapter 7)
METRICS Element (Chapter 8)
PROCESSES Element (Chapter 9)
RESULTS Element (Chapter 10)
To learn more about the powerful workshops and programs offered by Fidelis One, please visit: www.FidelisOne.com.