I read a great article by Elinor Robin on WomenEntrepreneur.com called The 7 Components of Positive Partnership where she provides analysis of the seven most important things a partnership has to encompass to be successful.  While the article is targeted to businesses operating as partnerships, the traits apply to any type of partnership you might have in business (e.g., with colleagues, clients, etc.).

Elinor lists these 7 characteristics of a successful partnership:

1. Shared values
2. Complementary skills and traits
3. Sense of equity
4. Growing together
5. Proactive conflict management strategies
6. Shared vision
7. An exit strategy

Each of the traits Elinor discusses is meant to create a stronger team.  The one that stands out the most to me (aside from having the same goals and vision) is #2 - complementary skills and traits.  Whenever I have to build a team, I always look for a team of people who bring different skills to the table but will work together cohesively to ensure all bases are covered, gaps are filled and the strongest team overall is created.

You can read Elinor’s analysis of each characteristic of a successful partnership in her article on WomenEntrepreneur.com.  What other traits do you find to be essential when it comes to developing a successful partnership?

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Donna Maria Coles Johnson of the Indie Business Blog asks What’s Your Exit Plan? where she interviews a Kristen Fraser Cotte who shares her experience in creating a plan to exit her previous career to start a new business with her husband.

Darlene McDaniel of Interview Chatter gives us Social Networking - Secrets of the Job Hunt where she tells readers about a social networking website dedicated to job searchers.

Lisa Moren Bromma of Wise Women Investor shares Challenges Business Owners Face in Today’s Economy where she discusses the top 5 challenges business owners face regardless of size, industry or location.

Jean Murray at Small Business Boomers brings us Nightmare Employees - Some Scary Stories from Boomer Business Owners where she shares some amusing stories about true nightmare employees!

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Melissa Seymour from Melissa Seymour Small Talk blog shares Small Business Start-Ups, a Sobering Reality where she quotes some findings from the New York Times but adds some hope to the disheartening results.

Allison Boyer at Greener Assets shares Green Flying Tips that will teach you how to be more eco-conscious on your next trip (for business or pleasure).

Celine Roque at Pimp Your Work asks What is a Productive Worker? where she shares a cool slideshow demonstrating that productivity should be linked more closely with results than hours clocked.

Liz Fuller of Business and Blogging asks Business Blogging - Is Your Blog a Failure?  where she shares information from an ezine article that can help you set reasonable expectations and goals for your business blog.

Mary Larsen from Your Design Biz Blog writes Focus, Focus, Focus! where she reminds us to ask ourselves what the tasks we do each day will help us achieve and how to better prioritize those tasks.

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Melonie Murray at Workerette shares how Bold Moves = Big Rewards for women returning to the workforce.

Liz Strauss at A Successful Blog gives us The Ultimate Guide to a Blog Status Report where she shares tips for creating a blog status report that can be applied to any business activity to keep your team engaged.

Bridget Wright of Leader Notes asks Does Toastmasters Grow Leaders? where she discusses the value of the Toastmasters organization.

Elana Centor at Funny Business shares her Notes from the Road where she gives her humerous take on hotel rooms.

Lisa Moren Bromma at Wise Women Investor gives us The Secret Ingredient to a Successful Business Venture where she shares her take on the importance of people to business success.

PINK Magazine is hosting its fourth annual conference series for women in business.  Conferences will be held across the country with each featuring influential, female business leaders speaking over the course of a two-hour lunch.  Each session runs from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., and tickets cost $125.  You can follow the link to register for the PINK Conference Series.

Following is the schedule for the 2008 PINK Conference Series:

• September 24, 2008: InterContinental Chicago in Chicago Illinois
• October 1, 2008: Marriott Marquis, New York, New York
• October 3, 2008: Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas in Dallas, Texas
• October 10, 2008: Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
• October 14, 2008: Four Season in Boston, Massachusetts
• October 30, 2008: Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza in Los Angeles, California
• November 12, 2008: Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia

Following is the list of speakers scheduled for the 2008 PINK Conference Series:

• Carol B. Tome, chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate sales, Home Depot Inc.
• Carol L. Bernick, chairman of the board, Alberto-Culver
• Lisa Ellis, executive vice president, Sony Music Label Group
• Donna Sturgess, vice president of innovation, GlaxoSmithKline
• Karin Gilford, vice president and general manager of Yahoo!
  Entertainment and Lifestyle
• Kelly Regal, executive vice president of human resources and corporate communications, Turner Broadcasting Inc.
• Joy Rothschild, senior vice president of associate services, Omni Hotels

Looks like a great line-up of speakers!  Have you attended one of the conferences in previous PINK Conference Series?  What did you think?

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Susan Gunelius on Brandcurve (that’s me!) provides 5 Musts for Logo Design - don’t create a new logo for your business without reading this post first!

Roberta Rosenberg at The Copywriting Maven shares Why Using Twitter is Like Talking to My Mother-in-Law where she gives her amusing take on the micro-blogging craze.

Elana Centor at Funny Business asks At Work Do You Follow a No Cleavage Policy? which gives an amusing and enlightening look at workplace dress codes.

Jennifer Hoffman of My Organized Biz brings us her Tip of the Week: Turn Your Phone into a Secretary in which she introduces a very cool website, Jott.com, where you can turn voice messages into email messages.

Bailey McCann from The Glass Hammer asks Where are the Women Business Gurus? which dissects the Wall Street Journal’s recent ranking of the top business gurus.

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Jennifer Gniadecki of Everyday Networker gives us Gossip vs. WOM Marketing where she gives us her view on using gossip vs. word of mouth marketing to promote.

Jean Murray at Small Business Boomers asks Sunny Side Up or Small Business Boomers as Optimists? where she queries whether baby boomers have businesses because they’re optimists or vice versa.

Kelly Phillips Erb at Taxgirl shares a very funny clip from The Colbert Report in Colbert Explains How to Spend Your Tax Rebate Check where Steven Colbert discusses how to spend that rebate check.

Melonie Murray at Workerette asks Blackberry Bold: Is It Worth It? where she gives us the lowdown on the newest Blackberry to hit the market.

Celine Roque at Pimp Your Work brings us 35 Excel Tips that Can Save You from Working All Night.

I came across the WomenCentric website during a trip around the internet earlier this week.  I think the organization sounds very interesting primarily because it brings together women in business to help them find speaking engagements.  Public speaking is a great way to boost your position as an expert in your field. 

I sent an email to WomenCentric using the link provided on their website, but it bounced back as undelivered.  I’d love to learn more about the organization and its opportunities in order to share them here at Women On Business. 

Has anyone worked with WomenCentric or Patricia Simone and Liz Benuscak who head up the organization?  What do you think of the WomenCentric website and business model? 

I’m back from vacation and back to blogging!  Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

First, I’d like to highlight two posts I wrote for the new blog I’m helping to author - Corporate Eye - Branding in the Spotlight - What is Branding? and Branding in the Spotlight: How to Develop a Brand which give some basic information about what a brand is and how to begin creating your brand image, message and promise.

Donna Marie Coles Johnson of Indie Business Blog brings us Wow I Coulda Had a VA where she interviews virtual assistant Ginger Derrickson.  Have you used a virtual assistant?  It’s a great option!

Traci Anderson at My Happy Place Designs gives us PhpBay Review: Add eBay Auctions to Your Blog/Website with PhpBay Pro where she tells us how to add an eBay store to your blog with the new phpBay Pro plug-in for Wordpress.

Kelly Phillips Erb of TaxGirl asks How Much is Your Mother Worth? where she challenges the value of intangible labor, specifically - motherhood.

Shannon Cherry at Start Up Spark gives us Success Secrets: Marley Majcher where she provides an audio interview with the owner of The Party Goddess, one of the top catering businesses in Los Angeles, California.

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.  Sorry for the delay this week.  I had some Wordpress issues that put me behind schedule!

Lahle Wolfe of About.com’s Women in Business gives us Job Fields Business Women are Dominating In and it’s not a pretty picture when it comes to bridging the gender gap.

Roberta Rosenberg of The Copywriting Maven tells us that Copywriters Aren’t the Only Ones Getting Dissed - a great look at marketing professions that are underpaid.

Shai Coggins of Just Make Money Online shares How to Get Focused Traffic to Your Blog - great tips you can use on your business or personal blog.