Given the significantly higher partnering quotient of Company A over Company B (26.5 points higher), coupled with their shared inability to trust, the two companies will have to take a number of steps to increase the likelihood of their partnering success. Given that both companies have relatively higher scores on Self-Disclosure and Feedback, they may want to hold a facilitated meeting to discuss issues, concerns, and strategies to address the issues indicated by the
disparate scores on the other attributes.

The two widest gaps between their profiles are in Win-Win Orientation and Comfort with Interdependence. The two companies may want to start by discussing what each means by “win-win” and “interdependence” so they can then put a plan into place to demonstrate those behaviors to each other, resulting in an increase in their ability to trust each other. By getting a clearer understanding of exactly how Company B feels that it will “lose” as well as how it will “win” in the partnership, the two companies could significantly improve the overall sense of mutual gain for both parties—not just Company A. The gap between their scores on Comfort with Interdependence also needs to be better understood. Company B tends to be more comfortable operating independently. This could cause some potential issues down the road when agreements are made and broken because the people at Company B chose to do it “their way.”This can cause mistrust and create win-lose outcomes in conflict resolution and problem solving.

On average, Comfort with Change is the lowest of the team’s Six Partnering Attributes. The team must be careful not to allow this deficiency to impede its ability to move forward with new ideas and concepts.

Chris’s overall low PQ score coupled with her clear inability to trust indicates that she probably has a number of important issues that have not been resolved or have been resolved in a win-lose manner.

Her somewhat higher rating on Self-Disclosure and Feedback may indicate a willingness to discuss the situation and make a determination about whether it makes sense for her to work hard to improve her role in the team or to seek another solution.

The other four members of the team seem to break into two groups of two. Pat and Janice have some clear trust issues, which, given their higher Self-Disclosure and Feedback scores, they would probably be willing to share in the right context. It would be interesting to understand better how Tom and Jonah feel about the team not working as well given their high Win-Win Orientation scores and how they might contribute to improving the team’s overall Partnering Intelligence.

Given the lower score on Future Orientation, perhaps Joe could start with some self-analysis. An inquiry into his rationale for his inability to trust based on past experiences could reveal ways for him to become more trusting and future-oriented and create the win-win partnerships he would like to experience.

Unjustified patience combined with blind loyalty is common among those who bought tech stocks in the bubble only to see them become penny stocks in the tech wreck. Many of these investors loved the product or the idea the company represented. They bought the stock, knowing nothing of stock investing. Patience and loyalty caused them to hang on, until the company’s bankruptcy, if necessary. Many band together in chat rooms and bolster each other’s loyalty during the long decline toward de-listing of the stock.

Some character flaws are only remotely connected to money. Lust comes up as a character flaw when you invest to impress a potential or actual lover. In Silicon Valley, many venture capital investments were made to provide pickup lines in coffee shops.

Jealousy and envy combined with pride sometimes lead to avoiding investments. Many people were jealous of 25-year-old multimillionaires who made fortunes quickly in the tech bubble. Too proud to follow their lead, some jealous investors avoided all stocks and suffered with paltry returns from CDs. When the tech bubble crashed, their jealousy turned into I-toldyou-so gloating. A riddle that made the rounds of Silicon Valley was: How do you get a dotcom CEO off your porch? Pay him for the pizza.

Unfortunately, such gloating further solidified jealous investors avoidance of even lucrative value stocks. It also led to demeaning hardworking innocents such as people who deliver pizza.

My character flaw is being an occasional conformist, as most of the time I am more of a rebel.” If you have resentment at the insurance salesperson who sold you the variable annuity, you might write down, “I needed a lot of money in a tax-deferred account right away. So I bought the product. Maybe I was a little greedy, trying to get a lot of savings too quickly. I was also jealous of Maggie who has all that money in her 401(k).” If you are resentful that your stock options became worthless, you might write down, “I was a victim of sales pressure. They offered me the low salary with substantial options showing me how well other employees had done with their options.

Okay, I did take the job. Maybe my character flaw was greed. But I also had those options for five years and could have exercised them early on and made a lot of money. It wasn’t just greed. Every time the stock took a dive, I rationalized it away, believing the original sales pitch I was given. I am a very loyal character. But in this situation my loyalty was a character flaw. I stayed loyal to the stock and the company despite all the evidence around me that things were falling apart.” A very small character flaw can have a big impact. Consider everything.

For example, an investor who grew up in Texas retired in Florida. While he kept most of his money in CDs all his life, in retirement he put $20,000 into a scheme that was run out of his birth town and whose employees, before they fled the country, had the same accent as he and knew the street he grew up on and the schools he attended as a child. For that reason, he trusted them when he would never have put money in a similar scheme run out of New York or California or Nevada.

A few years ago, fear and greed were the most talked about character flaws. Yet, you may not suffer from either of these. Do not try to force your part into trendy character flaws. This is your inventory, not a survey. Describe your part in whatever language fits best.

If you have difficulty figuring out what your character flaws are, look at the list. Ask if in some way any of these character flaws played even a small part in any investment on your list.

No two investors have the identical list of character flaws. Moreover, identical investments can trigger different shortcomings in each investor. If four employees receive a bonus of 100 identical stock options, each employee may have entirely different reactions. One may fear the options will become worthless; another may be overly confident that the options will soar in value and purchase a new car expecting to pay down the loan with option profits; a grandiose employee may offer to buy the options of the others at a premium to their current estimated value; an employee expecting a cash bonus may be disappointed and encounter trouble at home as the spouse expected a cash bonus for a long awaited vacation. No matter what character trait you experience, write it down.