A strong alliance will always conquer!

Defining your dream and then, the goals and the strategy that will lead you to it is not an easy task if you are just considering the smaller picture. However, once you identify your allies and work with them, it is a whole different story. What starts as a possibility becomes a formula for success!
The premise for this thinking is that there is nothing more powerful than synergism which translates in how the actions of your allies when working together for either your goals or theirs create a bigger effect that if doing it separately. It is like Michael Jordan once said: "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships".
So, how far have you got to go to find your allies? The simpliest way is mainly about identifying in your life the people you have bonded to, those that when together create sparks of innovation. Your allies can be your mentor (s), relatives, friends, colleagues and at the end those that when put in a room with you make you a better strategic thinker.
We find allies in the most unexpected ways. There is the one that push us out of our comfort zone to look at the bigger picture, there is also the risk oriented ally that by sharing her on-going challenges and successes empower us to follow our own leap of faith and there is also the cheerleader type that constructevely provides the needed feedback to reinforce the capabilities we believe we had in place to get started on the first place. There is the business savvy one, the inter-cultural expert, the IT genious...go figure. Alliances can be vertical, horizontal and so on.
However, the ability to plan, create, embrace, re-inforce, promote and sustain an alliance is a key differentiator that could seriously mean the choice between achieving your goals or not.

But what makes an alliance a formula for success?
- It increases the delivery quality. Once you've cross-checked the talents in your alliance the capability of the sum of its parts is certainly bigger.
- It is goals oriented as everyone is focused on the future; therefore, improving performance and adding value is a 'must'.
- When times are tough, it grows stronger! Call it survival mode or just trusting that the collective experience will keep all the involved ones afloat. Whatever way you want to look at it, it works!
- It beats the competition whatever the goals of its members are. From looking for a job to growing a business or just building a friendship the ending result is so superior that chances are everyone is more fullfilled and satisfied at the end.
- It is a rewarding, win-win experience for everyone. Nothing is unconditional. Can you still say your proper please and thank-you?
- Allies tend to reciprocate not because they have to but because they want to. There is the commitment to look for improvement in your partner's business and their desire to do the same for yours.
- It makes the road less travelled a 'not-that-solitary' one.

So, ask yourself who your allies are and start working on a successful alliance (I've got some wonderful allies already to be very thankful to!!!)

Remember:
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved"
William Jennings Bryan

and,

"The path to greatness is along with others"
Baltasar Gracion