Reboot Podcast Episode #26 – Finding Your Business Soulmate – with the Grommet Co-Founders

The Reboot podcast showcases the heart and soul, the wins and losses, the ups and downs of startup leadership. On the show, Entrepreneurs, CEO’s, and Startup Leaders discuss with Jerry Colonna the emotional and psychological challenges they face daily as leaders.

Episode 26 // October 30, 2015

…the greatest gift of relationship proves to be that as the result of encountering each other, we are obliged to grow larger than we had planned.

Guests

Jules Pieri

Jules Pieri

Co-Founder and CEO of The Grommet

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Joanne Domeniconi

Joanne Domeniconi

Co-founder and Chief Discovery Officer

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Episode Description

Two co-founders, who refer to each other as business soulmates, have found themselves in that special place of alignment. A place in partnership where they align not just intellectually, not just energetically, not even just at a values level, but at a human level.  Jules Pieri (her second time on the show) and her partner Joanne Domeniconi are the Co-founders of The Grommet.   They join Jerry to talk about the beginning of their partnership, where and how they found alignment at the human level, how it has evolved over time, and the challenges it represents as they scale the business

Jules Pieri on Twitter

Show Highlights

[bctt tweet=”“I knew I found my business soulmate in that conversation.” @jdomeniconi on @julespieri” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”@markpinc to @jerrycolonna: @fredwilson is leaving Euclid Partners. You guys should be partners!” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”Emotional intelligence boils down to two things: self-awareness and empathy. @jerrycolonna” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”Without self-awareness it’s almost impossible to develop empathy. @jerrycolonna” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”The business will always make its demands. How you respond to those demands is your choice. @jerrycolonna” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”We did the work of 40 people with 10 people for about 4 years. @julespieri” via=”no”]

“I knew I found my business soulmate in that conversation.” – Joanne Domeniconi  

“You can get a lens on someone through their children and family that is very special.” Jules Pieri 

“Can you mesh at the values level? Can you mesh at the human level?  IF you do, something really magical starts to happen”  – Jerry Colonna

“If you have to be in the same room together to make all the decisions then that’s a sign Cofounders must not trust each other very much.” Jules Pieri 

“Some of the best partnerships are made up of people who have a diversity of styles and experiences that come together and blend in harmony”. Jerry Colonna 

“Sometimes people don’t understand our relationship, but they can see the trust there.” – Joanne Domeniconi  

“Some of our best strategic thinking happens outside of the office.” – Joanne Domeniconi  

“You have to be able to push each other’s buttons to create that tension so you can advance a decision that is hard to make.” – Joanne Domeniconi  

“The trust is rooted as the foundation of our relationship that we are strong enough to have disagreements.” – Joanne Domeniconi  

“To be an adult in a relationship is not to be conflict free. It’s to resolve conflicts mindfully.” – David Richo

“Conflict isn’t necessarily a sign that there’s a problem. It’s what happens with those conflicts that determine if there’s a problem or not.” Jerry Colonna

“We both have rhythms that we have learned.” – Joanne Domeniconi  

“Emotional intelligence boils down to two things: self-awareness and empathy.”Jerry Colonna

“Without self-awareness, it’s almost impossible to develop empathy.”Jerry Colonna

“The business will always make its demands. How you respond to those demands is your choice.”Jerry Colonna

The answer to the question of scaling the business and scaling yourself is learning to let go of a lot of pieces that seem incredibly important every single day.”- Jerry Colonna

“We did the work of 40 people with 10 people for about 4 years.” Jules Pieri