and boy there’s a lot of energy in the room.  I’m just finishing up a three-day conference in Beaver Creek, Colorado at the Frost and Sullivan Marketing World Executive MindXchange.  (What a name!).  It’s been an interesting and educational three days.  There’s nothing like sitting with seasoned professionals to be reminded that a: you know what you’re doing b: everyone has the same types of challenges and c: someone else has figured out a new way to do things.   

The speaker that most resonated with me was Dan Duffy, CEO of United Country Real Estate who talked to us about building the right strategic partnerships.   His key take away?  Make sure your company values and culture align.  He shared the story of an ultimately unsuccessful merger attempt between Harley Davidson and BMW.   The numbers looked amazing.  The culture?  Totally bad fit.  And just think about it for one second and you know that.  It’s common sense.  Their brand, their company promise, their riders are all so different.  What in the world would happen if there were a Harley BMW brand.  YIKES!  But through the exploration of culture and values, the executive walked away from what looked great on paper but would inevitably be an implementation and execution disaster costing millions of dollars.

It’s an interesting criteria for choosing our partners.   And I think it takes tremendous discipline and leadership to value the intangibles as much as the tangibles.

Dogs.  Ya gotta love ‘em.  Yesterday we had some friends over for a little ‘get to know Rigley’ party.  And wow was he great.  He greeted everyone with wags and happy kisses.  He jumped up a little, but not very much.  And then we went and flopped down on the carpet and watched the goings on.   No pushing, no shoving, no barking.  Every once in a while he’d come over for pets and kisses. 

We’re so lucky to have him.