Yin and Yang as Co-Presidents

Imagine a business led by two siblings who share ownership and management responsibilities equally, yet are as unlike in style and personality as Beethoven and the Beach Boys. Imagine further that in this business no major decisions are made unless both partners agree, and no one has the power to break deadlocks when they occur.

Sound like a nightmare? It can be. Yet there are many successful sibling partnerships that are structured in just such a precarious way. In these companies, the partners develop a work relationship that is always complicated and, at times, even combative, but which sometimes manages to capitalize on their very differences to produce solid strategic decisions.

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