Making a partnership work

“One plus one equals three” is how business partners Mark S. Gaunya, GBA, and Jennifer A. Borislow, CLU, often describe their successful 12 years of working together, during which time they have quadrupled the size of their employee benefits practice. It sounds simple. It’s not. Their partnership requires

• Shared vision
• Frequent communication
• Unfailing respect and trust
• Unwavering commitment to each other and the business

“We’re going to shine together or go down together,” said Borislow, 2012 MDRT President and a 29-year member from Methuen, Massachusetts. “Statistics state that 80 percent of partnerships fail. I’m very fortunate that I’m involved in a business partnership that has worked well for more than a decade.”

Her partnership with Gaunya, an 11-year MDRT member also from Methuen, took their practice, Borislow Insurance, from 13 to more than 50 employees. It’s become one of the largest privately held employee benefits agencies in Massachusetts.

Learning how to disagree

They were friends before the partnership, but it didn’t prevent them from working out how they should disagree while working together. They both care passionately about the business, which can lead to spirited discussions. With clients, they always present a united front. For their staff members, who they learned were uncomfortable seeing them disagree, they took a similar approach. “We’ll do a timeout in front of our team and say we’re not on the same page,” Gaunya said. They then let the team know they’ll discuss it offline and get back to them.

“I’m confident it is never a disagreement about who we are as people. When we disagree, it’s about a business issue, not about each other,” Gaunya said.

Read more about their partnership in the July/August issue of Round the Table. You also can watch the full video on MDRT’s Resource Zone.

Written by Antoinette Tuscano, MDRT Content Specialist