The Break-Up

Overview

In this episode of How’s Work? with Esther Perel, we meet Mike and Jay. For these two, being in business together hasn't just been about cash – it's a badge of the trust and teamwork they developed flying fighter jets together in the Navy. Mike's vision combined with Jay's grit gave them the confidence to create a killer startup. Then they got stuck.

In The Break-Up, they admit their partnership is on the skids. What happened? ‍

Thematics

What to listen for in this episode of How’s Work? With Esther Perel: ‍

• Separation is scary. Can even the best ideas succeed without the “us?”
• Complementarity as a Catch 22: When over-relying on the other’s strength and overcompensating for the other’s weakness, "the price of the self that has been given up" can be both prohibitive and hard to recognize.
• "The context of how you grew up exquisitely sharpens certain skills. And they come with you to work." A single child may have learned to solve things alone, whereas someone with siblings probably learned to think about how it affects others.
• There’s no such thing as a lone genius. "Once I accept that I'm not the source of all failure, then I have to accept that I'm not the source of all success."
• Often stuckness isn’t "just some matter-of-fact shortness of ideas," but rather the crushing "burdens of responsibility." Like a tree, stuckness takes some digging to get at the roots.
• "When you're in that [anxious], vigilant state, you can't be exploratory, playful, curious, imaginative, creative, innovative."
  Acknowledgment counts. When a partner says, “I see you in your predicament, That 'I see you' is what ultimately makes you feel less alone.