Review: Power of 2 by Wagner and Muller

Power of 2 How to make the most of your partnerships at work and in life is an interesting book. I thought many of the ideas in it could translate into a marriage.

It is not yet available for Kindle.

Both authors are associated with Gallup. Wagner is a principal; Muller is vice chairman and general manager of the Gallup World Poll.

The authors posit that a good partnership is much better than going solo -- that the combined efforts of a working partnership are more than 1 + 1.

They pack the book full of interesting stories of partnerships that worked and partnerships that didn't and partnerships that needed (and either received or didn't receive) forgiveness in order to continue.

In doing so, they tell of partnerships across countries and tell stories of partnerships that took place historically, as well as partnerships in the immediate past, such as the one that ultimated in the discovery of the DNA sequence. They tell of partnerships in medicine, in science, in entertainment, in basketball and sports, in world exploration, in writing books; successful partnerships between seemingly unequals in education, class or race, and others.

There is a large appendix on how the various polls were conducted and lots of source notes.

In the book they identified 8 elements of a powerful partnership, none of which is earth shaking:

Complementary strengths; a common mission; fairness; trust; acceptance; forgiveness; communicating; and unselfishness. pp 8-10

Additionally they told of surveys conducted that could predict if a working partnership would succeed or not. Even the difference of 1 degree of satisfaction on a scale of 1-5 would make a partnership less viable.

It is a very readable book and convincing. The trick is how to find a partnership that buoys you up, and where you in turn can buoy up someone else, that is workable and productive, where you are not doing all the work for half or less of the recognition. The other trick is to have a company that appreciates the synergism and rewards it, rather than giving it lip service, but undermining it at every turn. And, of course, if you've ever been burned in a partnership, it makes it harder to enter another one, even if the possible outcome is greater than if you applied yourself alone.

Have you read the book?
I give it 4 out of 4 stars.

Karin

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