Partnership: The Mother of Entrepreneurship

Partnership: The Mother of Entrepreneurship

“Our partners are the only people who can truly share in both our joys and our sorrows.”

Partnership, the Mother of Entrepreneurship

The creation and development of innovative businesses and professional activities that generate sustainable employment opportunities and income is known as entrepreneurship.

The diverse and inevitable changes that have gradually affected nearly every aspect of human life—including global population growth, climate change, countries’ adoption of different economic policies, governmental political orientations, and technological advancements—have each contributed, in their own way, to resource scarcity. Societies’ efforts to mitigate the consequences of these shortages have, in turn, contributed to demographic imbalances across different parts of the world.

One of the first casualties of resource scarcity in any society is employment, both in terms of employment opportunities and the number of people employed. This is one reason we are witnessing increasingly widespread population movements and migration.

Entrepreneurship has always been a flourishing source of employment. It is therefore unsurprising that, at this point in history, it has become a major priority for societies across the world—whether advanced industrial nations, developing countries, or countries that have been held back from development and aspire to create productive employment for their people.

The broad approaches adopted by these societies toward entrepreneurship vary considerably. At one end of the spectrum are industrialised countries that have incorporated strategies for developing entrepreneurial attitudes into their medium-term education systems. At the other are countries lacking effective planning and management structures, which remain largely passive and place their hopes in the occasional emergence of exceptionally courageous individuals.

Some countries, meanwhile, assume that education alone can cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and consequently devote considerable resources to short- and long-term entrepreneurship training programmes. They overlook the fact that entrepreneurial spirit emerges as a consequence of a combination of natural and inherent tendencies, supported by timely and informed assistance. It cannot simply be treated as a controllable outcome that can be produced through one or several training courses.

My intention here is not to elaborate on the innate characteristics of entrepreneurs, a subject with which many experts are already thoroughly familiar. Instead, I wish to examine a foundation that, I would argue, has contributed to the establishment and success of more than 95 percent of entrepreneurial ventures in our time, yet has received relatively little attention.

Contrary to the views of many experts who believe that large numbers of entrepreneurs can be developed by nurturing individual creativity, verbally encouraging courage and risk-taking, and teaching a collection of relevant or unrelated examples, I believe that partnership provides the essential environment in which entrepreneurship can emerge, grow, and become operational.

Without the foundation of partnership, even the most promising sparks of innovation may fade away. Moreover, where partnerships exist but lack the essential elements that ensure their sustainability, the outcome may be no better.

Experience suggests that partnership is the mother and driving force of entrepreneurship. Indeed, it can reasonably be argued that innovative entrepreneurial ventures would be exceptionally rare without it.

How Entrepreneurial Partnerships Are Formed

Throughout history, entrepreneurial groups, whether established as formal companies or informal associations, have often emerged through personal proximity and shared experiences.

Such relationships may originate in friendships, military service, education, employment, sporting activities, neighbourhood connections, or similar circumstances.

These interactions provide opportunities for individuals to exchange ideas and discover similarities in personality, fears, hopes, interests, aspirations, and personal capabilities. Most importantly, they allow emotional bonds to develop.

Traditionally, these factors have formed the foundations of alliances and commitments in economic, social, political, and other collective movements.

The role of partnership in entrepreneurship is both extensive and fundamental.

When new partners initially assess the requirements of a proposed venture, they often discover that a substantial proportion of those requirements can be met through the combined contributions of the partners themselves.

The First Contribution: Complementary Entrepreneurial Characteristics

The first category of contributions I wish to discuss concerns a point I have repeatedly emphasised in my previous articles: within a partnership, some or even all of the conventional personality requirements attributed to an entrepreneur may cease to be individually necessary.

When entrepreneurship is considered dependent upon a particular collection of personal qualities—such as creativity, ambition, risk-taking, perseverance, hard work, and resilience—we are effectively setting an exceptionally demanding standard.

Under ordinary circumstances, very few individuals possess all these characteristics simultaneously.

However, the likelihood of finding these qualities within a collective entity, or more precisely within a working group, is considerably greater.

Each partner may possess some of the qualities necessary for entrepreneurial success. When these complementary psychological and personal characteristics are brought together, the collective personality of the group can approach that of the ideal entrepreneur.

The Second Contribution: Financial, Physical, and Professional Resources

The second category of partner contributions includes tangible assets and accumulated knowledge.

These may consist of cash, equipment, property, or other resources that contribute to the initial investment required for a project. Equally important are the individual skills, professional expertise, and practical experience that each partner brings to the venture.

This arrangement creates significant material advantages for transforming an idea into a functioning enterprise.

First, sharing the initial capital requirements can substantially reduce the financial difficulties associated with launching a project.

Second, making use of the partners’ professional expertise, skills, available time, and even social networks can significantly reduce the need for cash investment while strengthening the venture’s independence and security.

Third, potential risks—including the possibility of project failure and loss of invested capital—are distributed among the partners, thereby reducing each individual’s exposure to a more manageable level.

The Third Contribution: Emotional and Motivational Resources

The third category of requirements for creating innovative opportunities is particularly important to the success of a venture. Indeed, examining this category is the principal purpose of this article.

These requirements consist of feelings and motivations that emerge from the relationships among partners and become essential driving forces behind the project.

They play important roles in preserving the strength, continuity, and progress of a partnership.

Among the most significant are:

• The obligation to adapt and persevere

• Social credibility

• Self-esteem, confidence, and courage

• Synergy

• Shared objectives

• Opportunities for exchanging ideas

• Mutual emotional understanding and the sharing of feelings

To appreciate the advantages of these qualities, it is necessary to examine their nature and functions individually.

The Obligation to Adapt and Persevere

By the obligation to adapt, I mean that the journey from establishing the objectives of an innovative economic or social venture to achieving its ultimate goals requires considerable time, endurance, and the ability to overcome difficulties.

Numerous factors can undermine an individual's consistency and determination during this journey.

Human tendencies toward impatience, comfort, and the pursuit of variety can create repeated doubts, whether consciously or unconsciously.

It is therefore unrealistic to assume that individual determination alone will always be sufficient to withstand these pressures.

When difficult circumstances can weaken even a person's commitment to their own future, an external source of accountability may provide the motivation needed to continue.

In difficult situations, individuals may find it relatively easy to abandon commitments they have made to themselves. However, commitments made to others are not so easily disregarded.

Even when someone wishes to withdraw, considerations such as a sense of obligation toward fellow partners or their objections can make surrender far more difficult.

These pressures may ultimately help restore the endurance and determination of a discouraged individual.

In effect, commitment to partners strengthens commitment to oneself.

Conversely, a stronger sense of personal commitment can reinforce responsibility toward partners.

Partnership therefore strengthens individual perseverance while simultaneously reducing the likelihood of conflict and incompatibility among partners.

Social Credibility, Self-Esteem, Confidence, and Courage

Although these four qualities are distinct in nature, their functions within a partnership are closely interconnected. I therefore prefer to examine them together.

Beyond basic physiological needs, social credibility is an undeniable human necessity that plays a significant role in shaping an individual's future.

Social acceptance has traditionally depended on two principal factors: a person's background and their conduct.

Before an individual becomes independently active in society, usually during adolescence or earlier, family background plays the more prominent role.

Following independent participation in society, however, personal achievements, behaviour, and performance increasingly determine an individual's social standing.

In simpler terms, family background and personal conduct provide society with a basis for forming expectations about an individual's future behaviour and relationships.

These expectations may open doors for some people while creating obstacles for others.

When young individuals formally enter into partnerships, they gain access to the collective social standing and networks of their fellow partners.

At the same time, their new professional identity sends a message to society that they intend to participate actively and constructively in economic and social life.

They thereby add the credibility of the group to their own personal reputation.

Even individuals who already enjoy an established social position may strengthen their acceptance and standing through such associations.

Social credibility is therefore not only an important requirement for economic and social activity; it also creates a sense of pride, dignity, and positive recognition, which contribute to the development of self-esteem.

Much can be written about the benefits of self-esteem. However, two aspects are particularly relevant to the needs and sustainability of partnerships.

First, self-esteem is a valuable psychological achievement that few individuals are willing to sacrifice. The desire to preserve it can discourage behaviour that might damage one's own standing.

Second, one of the most important outcomes of self-esteem is self-confidence, which in turn fosters courage and the ability to place trust in others.

Synergy

Teamwork allows individuals to devote their full attention and energy to areas in which they possess expertise, interest, and natural aptitude.

It also creates opportunities for their underlying potential to flourish.

Consequently, the productivity generated by the combined efforts of partners can be substantially greater than the sum of their individual productivity when working independently.

An individual entrepreneur may be compelled to devote considerable time to activities in which they have no comparative advantage, or which may even conflict with their psychological, emotional, or physical characteristics.

Such responsibilities are often performed reluctantly and inefficiently.

Within a team, however, individuals can concentrate on their strengths.

It is important to emphasise that specialisation within a working group does not necessarily mean limiting activities to the existing skills of its members.

A synergistic environment also encourages learning and professional development.

Over time, individuals who initially relied on only one dimension of their knowledge or abilities may develop into versatile specialists and managers with broader capabilities.

Teamwork can also compensate for missing skills and strengthen the personal characteristics required for entrepreneurship among group members.

Finally, the positive competitive spirit generated within a team should not be overlooked, as it can be a major contributor to improving organisational productivity.

Opportunities for Exchanging Ideas

Partners generally choose one another voluntarily.

It can therefore be assumed that they have recognised a certain degree of compatibility in personality, understanding, and outlook.

They may also share similarities in education, age, professional experience, or skills.

Put simply, they understand one another's way of thinking.

This compatibility is a significant advantage because it creates an environment for the continuous exchange of ideas.

Individual entrepreneurs do not enjoy this opportunity to the same extent.

Regardless of how creative or intellectually flexible a person may be, an individual working alone remains confined to the boundaries of their own knowledge and thought processes.

By contrast, exchanging ideas with others who understand the issues and are genuinely concerned with their outcomes provides opportunities to refine analyses and improve decisions through brainstorming.

Furthermore, in many situations, attempting to solve a problem entirely within one's own mind is considerably more difficult than expressing that problem verbally.

Indeed, simply explaining an unresolved issue aloud may sometimes lead to its solution, even before others offer suggestions or alternative perspectives.

The Deepest Mutual Understanding Among Partners: Sharing Joy and Sorrow

I now come to the final advantage of partnership, one that I personally consider particularly important and that motivated me to write this article.

Although the true value of the advantages discussed above becomes most apparent through personal experience, the final point can be understood by reflecting on experiences that many readers may already have encountered.

You may have confided your private concerns to the wrong person, only to discover later that your secrets had been disclosed or even exploited.

Perhaps you have experienced situations in which you enthusiastically shared news of a personal achievement, whether great or small, with close friends, only to be disappointed by their cold or indifferent reactions.

Or perhaps you have spoken about your worries and difficulties and found that the other person's lack of concern diminished your willingness to share your feelings.

In my view, these experiences reflect an underlying social reality: with one exception,* almost all human relationships are established around personal interests, whether material or emotional.

The underlying purpose of most social relationships is to satisfy some aspect of an individual's needs or interests.

It is therefore unsurprising that when those interests are threatened, defensive reactions may emerge.

Moreover, many of our social relationships are essentially one-dimensional.

For example, a friendship may exist primarily because two individuals are classmates, colleagues, or neighbours.

When serious conflicts arise in other dimensions of their personalities or interests, such relationships can easily deteriorate.

Based on this understanding, I believe that the most important factor in preserving rewarding emotional relationships—and continuing to enjoy the company of others—is the alignment of interests.

Where conflicts of interest become significant, tensions and concerns are likely to arise.

Even when such relationships continue, sincerity and genuine affection may gradually be replaced by pretence and insincerity.

There is much more to say about this subject, but the purpose of this article is to examine the advantages of partnership within entrepreneurship.

In a balanced partnership, the material interests—and often the emotional and non-material interests—of partners are fundamentally aligned.

Consequently, there is less reason to question the sincerity of their feelings toward one another.

Partners share in economic and social successes and failures alike.

Apart from particular individual personality traits, there is little inherent reason for jealousy, resentment, or narrow-mindedness among them.

This shared interest creates a remarkable advantage: partners can freely express their feelings, celebrate one another's achievements, and genuinely sympathise with one another's setbacks.

It also encourages the continued exchange of ideas and even the sharing of personal hopes and aspirations.

This is a profound benefit.

Distrust, suspicion of others, and the constant need for caution consume a considerable portion of human energy and resources.

By contrast, sincere and trusting relationships significantly reduce this waste, allowing individuals to direct more of their energy toward achieving greater success.

Gholamreza Reihani Bozorg

14 March 2022

* The relationship between a mother and her child is the exception referred to above. I firmly believe that this relationship is fundamentally different and that personal self-interest does not govern its essential nature.