Thomas White, CEO of the C-Suite Network, will ring in the new year with new partnerships and optimism.
Looking ahead is always the best time to glance over my shoulder to see what the future holds. So much of our lives repeat past patterns, that while they may have different details, the outcomes are the same. As I look into my crystal ball, I see a past year filled with promise and disappointment.
The promise was a project that had the potential to revolutionize an area of executive services. There were a number of external factors that were involved in making this come to life. This is where the rub often comes in new business ventures. There is a lack of transparency with events that happen in other people’s world, which are critical to a project’s success. Unfortunately, the promise of our revolution did not happen. Our entry into a vital market was delayed by a year.
My error was in not insisting that I become more involved in the conversations between our partners and other key players through the development process. I allowed myself to be tranquilized by their perspectives, rather than insisting on my own involvement so that I could make an assessment that was measured against not just their concerns but ours as well.
This can be challenging, as partners often want to be the primary link to supplier relationships. There is, many times, a distrust that potential partners may step around the company and go to the suppliers directly. My lesson is that it’s vital to build sufficient trust between organizations and their partners so that there is full transparency.
I am optimistic about the road ahead. I have taken this lesson to heart, and our existing partnerships are based in mutual trust. I’m confident our delayed project will launch early in the year and that the potential we saw will finally happen.
Thomas White is Co-Founder and CEO of the C-Suite Network, a company designed to enable thought leaders, CEOs and other C-Suite professionals to maximize the potential of peer networks and social media to expand their audience, increase revenue and grow their personal and business brands. For more information, visit http://c-suitenetwork.com.