With Whom Are You Co-Creating Your Future?

Back in 1999, I used a short Powerpoint deck to get four VC investment offers in a week. The first thing I did with the proceeds was to hire David Nour.

David and his wife Wendy relocated from Atlanta to Connecticut, and he became president of my startup. He was the best networker I'd ever met and served as a healthy balance to my often too cerebral manner.

Long story short, when the dot-com boom went bust, we couldn't raise our second round. David and Wendy moved to Denver, then eventually back to Atlanta. Back home, David was invited to give a talk at church to what he thought would be a small group.

250 people showed up to hear his presentation on effective networking. He was terrified but must have done a spectacular job, because this speech led to many other church talks. At some point, he decided to take speaking seriously and became a student of the profession. As many speakers do, he wrote a book to both polish and help spread his ideas.

That first book, Relationship Economics, turned business relationships from a fuzzy, "nice to have" into a very real asset with a quantifiable value. David was off to the races.

Tomorrow marks the release of his 10th book. It's called Co-Create, and it is one of the best examples of an author who truly practices what he preaches.

Last week, I flew down to Atlanta for David's book launch party and was lucky enough to catch David's dynamic keynote speech the next morning. His message was powerful and focused: with whom do you want to intertwine your future?

Co-Create is about moving past conversation, cooperation, and collaboration to something far more powerful. It's about literally combining your future with someone else's. That might be another person, a select group of your customers, or another company.

The trick is to go far past superficialities. It requires giving up a bit of self-interest to create a future that is far more appealing than what any of you could have created on your own.

If this sounds simple, it's not. David's book includes numerous examples and each one tells a tale of hard work and focused attention over an extended period of time.

For 18 years, I've watched David cultivate relationships, relentlessly help others, and never stop growing. He is intellectually curious and a masterful speaker. So when he says, "This is how you create a brighter future for yourself, " I listen carefully.

"You can't go it alone," says David, which is sobering advice for a guy like me who spends most days writing alone. The world is just too complicated for anyone or any organization to succeed without deep, lasting, highly productive relationships.

I can't do his work justice in a few hundred words. Read the book. Watch a few of his many videos. Then think carefully about whether the effort you are putting into your business relationships is anywhere near the right level. The answer is probably no.

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As proof I listen to David, I recently joined forces with Amy Blaschka to found MoreIntuitive.com. It's a free community for professionals looking for their next intuitive leap. Please join us.

Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter for thought leaders. He is the author of NEVER TELL PEOPLE WHAT YOU DO.