Daydream Playbook Entry #24

The key to a truly successful collaboration is not always as obvious as it seems. According to Dogfish Head Founder, Sam Calagione, it all boils down to one thing: mutual respect. In this entry, read how Sam has navigated each bump along the road, celebrated each well-won victory with our collaborators over the years, and used his individual superpowers for good.

“Believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men. Speak your latent conviction and it shall be the universal sense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The golden rule for successful collaborations is this: the more proportionate and focused the involvement from each participating entity is, the more mutually beneficial the results will be. “Of course,” you say, “that’s obvious.” Maybe. But not until we had a few seemingly promising collaborative projects go off course did we come to understand what it takes to sustain good ones. Everybody wants win-win in theory, but despite the best intentions, in practice, things can often get sticky. When it comes to external collaboration – with other companies, artists, or organizations – I’ve learned that there have to be shared intentions, a single written definition of success all parties contribute to and agree upon, and a shared level of engagement. Enthusiasm isn’t enough. As our VP of marketing says, collaborations are hard.

Most collaborations begin with mutual respect between two organizations or entities. In order for Dogfish Head to initiate a collaboration, both parties must respect each other and have shared values. This might not be an approach they teach in business schools, but I’m convinced that the best strategy is to focus on the positive energy that comes from collaboration rather than the negative energy that can come from focusing on competition. The impact on your brand and your corporate culture and ultimately your long-term bottom line will usually be greater.

Karma counts. I’ve always looked at Dogfish Head as a catalyst for good. It’s embedded in the same philosophy that I teach my two children: we are each of us born with unique superpowers. With every choice we face as individuals, we can either use our powers for good or evil. It’s easy to argue for shades of gray, and there are frequently scenarios where the choices are murkier. But if you can make that good-versus-evil filter instinctual, you will at least be sensitive to every decision point you come to. Of course, none of us makes the perfectly correct choice every chance we. But we can each always strive to make the right choices more frequently in the future than we have in the past. In my own life I did this good-versus-evil experiment for a week and took notes on my smartphone. I recorded the choices I made in those seven days, decisions as big as my contributions towards our company’s strategic plan and as small as my choices to eat healthier. In the places where I remembered to consider my choices through that good-versus-evil filter, I estimated that I made good choices just over 80 percent of the time. So I guess my letter grade would be somewhere between a C-plus and a B-minus, I have lots of room to improve. And, of course, one person’s definitions of goodness and evil are going to be slightly different than another person’s. If you rested yourself, using your own definitions, for a week, or even just one day, where would you come out in terms of a percentage score?