Читать книгу Finance & Grow Your New Business - Angie Mohr - Страница 51

Craig’s next job was to work on the presentation to the investors. He and his partner, Gordon, had decided on the name EarthPower for their new company but had not been able to agree on much else. He quickly realized that, not only did he have to figure out how to present the company to outsiders, but he also had to figure out what the company would look like so that he could work on the strategic plan.

Craig and Gordon booked off an entire day to work on the vision for the company. Once they started to discuss the products and services that they would offer their customers, Craig realized they had entirely different visions for the company. Craig called Vivian that afternoon for her advice and she recommended that the partners engage in a mediated visioning session.

“What’s that?” Craig asked, perplexed.

“A visioning session will help the two of you to come to a consensus as to what the business will look like and what products and services it will offer. Determining that upfront will help to deflect problems down the road. You both will have a good handle on what the business is and does.”

“But what does ‘mediated’ mean?” Craig asked.

“Mediated means that a third party — in this case, me — will be a participant in the talks and will help to balance out both views. You can imagine what would happen in an unmediated discussion if one partner always puts forward his opinion without ever letting the other partner speak. It’s not very effective. Once we’ve had the visioning session, we’ll start on the business plan.”

Craig rubbed his forehead. This was starting to sound like real work.