Human psychology, (and the art of working on my own) has always been intriguing to me, albeit painful at times.  If you think about it, with all the different personalities we have out there in the world, it’s amazing we all get along as well as we do.  Take into account the fact that many of our present reactions directed to others tend to be controlled by our sordid pasts and it seems daunting to make any positive ground!  Yea, I’m talking about all those positive and negative issues that have molded our self esteem into what it is today.  For myself, sports and art (typically not discussed together in this way!) helped me create an “I can do it” attitude but like many of you out there I was bullied a lot in school as a kid and I continue to work on those skeletons, (guess there’s a balance there somewhere right?!)

Our personal lives, of course, are directly tied into the quality of our interpersonal relationships.  These relationships can be all over the board in effectiveness but to coin a phrase from Steven Covey (the author of The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People), “win-win” is a state of relationships that we should all be striving towards in that it’s all about cooperating and combining talents to make something greater together.  Most people’s reactions, when they learn that Wendy and I work full time together on our wedding photography business is a, “wow I could never do that with my spouse, brother, father, etc.”  After two years of working consistently with Wendy, I’ve come to realize that it’s actually made our relationship stronger in the long run.  It didn’t and doesn’t come easy but the rewards have been great.  This guest post series, I’ve had the honor of writing for Skip Cohen’s blog, directly addresses conflict issues that frequently come up in working with family members and finding effective methods that create the “win-win” balance between all involved.

Wendy and I got to meet Skip for the first time by chance (or destiny, fate, etc) when we were all waiting to present at this years Photo Ignite at WPPI in Vegas.  It’s funny but I’ll never forget sitting alone with Wendy and Skip off to the side of the stage, and even though I was super nervous, the experience was priceless and truly one of the best of my life.  For those who don’t know Skip, you should since he’s an iconic figure in the photography industry.  Having worked at Polaroid Corporation for 18 years doing everything from R&D to marketing he then became Hasselblad’s CEO for 12 years.  Skip was also worked for 7 years as President of Rangefinder Publications, who publishes Rangefinder Magazine and WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International).  Oh, and on top of that, he’s written six photography related books.

Presently, Skip’s focus is primarily devoted to educating people within this industry he’s devoted his whole life to.  He’s the founder of Marketing Essentials International that specializes in photography education.  If that wasn’t enough, he’s also the founder of Skip’s Summer School, (www.mei500.com), the Akron Photo Series (www.AkronPhotoSeries.com ), co-founder of GhostRighters, (www.GhostRighters.com) a content resource for professional photographers needing help with editorial content, web re-design and marketing.  Oh, he also co-founded GoingPro (www.GoingPro2011.com), a project for new photographers with author, photographer and social media icon, Scott Bourne.

Here’s the post  –  The Importance of Creating Harmony Between Family Members in the Work Environment