Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/256387
128 W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 the quintessential American industrialist John D. Rockefeller warned against mixing friendship and business. "A friendship founded on business is a good deal better than a business founded on friendship," asserted the tycoon. Fortunately, four pairs of local friends never heard or chose not to heed Rockefeller's advice. All have debunked his theory by building thriving businesses and maintaining strong friendships at the same time. Sue Williamson and Angie O'Donnell met 22 years ago as MBA students at Babson's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Management and became fast friends after working together in Switzerland for a summer. Twenty years after pursuing different career paths in the human resources field, they went into business together, starting the coaching firm 3D Leadership Group in Wellesley. Their coaching team helps organizations build leadership capacity through individual coaching, team development, and assessment-based workshops. Ben Howe and Maria Kussmaul were colleagues in the early 1990s at the investment bank Cowen and Company, where they developed a friendship based on mutual respect and trust. Sue Williamson and Angie O'Donnell of 3D Leadership Group M A U R A W A Y M A N commerce retailing entrepreneurship keeping track startups investments capital Friends and Business Partners E L I Z A B E T H S U N E B Y writer business 3D Leadership Group's Five Tenets for Maintaining a Productive Partnership n Friendship first n Let go of the small stuff n Keep the feedback flowing n Discuss business like founders n Celebrate like friends 128-134_WWMa14_Business_partners_v2_business 2/2/14 12:29 PM Page 128