"Easy relationships tend not to be productive. Difficult relationships tend to yield significant positive results.”

These were the (paraphrased) comments of Dan Courser, CEO of Predictive Synergistic Systems. Dan is the regional guru for the Predictive Index, a remarkable personality survey that I have been using on and off for the past two plus decades. The Predictive Index is a series of answers to survey questions that yield insights into the personality of the survey taker.

I first started using the Predictive Index (hereinafter, PI) when I was with Mastech Corporation (the predecessor to I-Gate Corporation, one of Pittsburgh's most successful high-tech start-ups). Mastech was growing at a phenomenal rate, and yet almost one of every three individuals we hired didn't last six months. This, despite the fact that we subjected each job candidate to a series of interviews by the corporation's top executives.

I have long contemplated the reasons why such things as interviews and reference checks tend not to work when evaluating and hiring people. To some extent, these techniques do not work because people tend to inject their own biases into the interview. (You know, “Hey, he’s just like me! We've got to hire this guy!”)

And of course, people lie. Sorry to have to break this to you, but it does happen.

But I’m drifting. This column is about relationships. The Predictive Index just gets me to the topic.

The Predictive Index measures four broad areas. These include: “drive/ambition,” “the need to please/be liked,” “patience/sense of urgency,” and “attention to detail/breaking the rules.”

Regular readers of this column (and listeners to my talk show) know that I’m fond of talking about “Brake Pedal” people. Brake pedal people are just who they sound like; they are more conservative, risk-averse individuals. In PI parlance, they would be people with, generally, a low A (more consensus-oriented in their management style) and a low D (the like to stay within the white lines).

In that same context, we talk about “Gas Pedal” people. Gas Pedal people are those with high A's and high D's. In effect, they are quite the opposite of Brake Pedal people.

I am a Gas Pedal person. If there is one damned thing that I know about myself, is that my solution to every one of life’s problems is “faster/more/go!” I can’t pinpoint where this came from nor why this is, but I do know that I just love speed and aggressive action.

The trouble with Gas Pedal guys is that, and while they’re quite effective on the straightaways, they just don't know how to deal with the curves. For he who presses the gas pedal through a 180-degree curve generally finds himself in the first row, right along with the spectators.

The first couple of businesses I ran, I favored the gas pedal. Predictively (sorry about the pun), I “sold myself to hell.” This is typical for Gas Pedal people. They outsell their supply lines. Truth be told, I’ve lost more businesses because of sales “success” than I have due to “failure.”

In business after business, I followed this pattern. I would start a business, generate incredible sales volumes, and then watch in horror as that business failed to deliver quality products and services to its customers. My answer? Why more sales, of course! Which only exacerbated the problem. A lot of this had to do with focus, and a lot of it had to do with the overall culture of the company. All I know is that I felt a lot like Sissyphus and the Rock. Over and over, I was crushed by a boulder of my own choosing.

Then, along came Mike Lopes. Mike is the ultimate Brake Pedal person. And without Mike's intervention, I'd probably still be getting "stoned," 24 x 7.

Mike came from the corporate world. He had previously been controller of PPG Industries’ world-wide glass group (Yes Virginia --- he was a beaner). After that, he did a stint in PPG's treasury. From what I understand, he "wrote the book" on investing their overnight monies. I suspect that if you looked up the phrase “risk averse” on Wikipedia, there could well be a picture of Mike.

And so, as you might (again, pardon the pun) “predict,” Mike and I, and at the outset of our relationship, had almost nothing in common. I’m gregarious. He is one or two steps away from reclusive. I attack across a broad front. He looks for the safest and most conservative opportunities before going on the offensive.

I was about 33 years old when I first met Mike. I figured that our relationship would last maybe six months. But as things turned out, he and I had not one, but two very successful companies. We were so perfectly balanced against one another that we couldn't help but make terrific business decisions.

Was ours an easy relationship? Hardly. I don’t think that he and I ever even once went out socially.

But was it a productive relationship? You betcha. After I began to see the wisdom of Mike’s ways (and, ironically, he, mine), we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

Instead of Mike, it would have been “easy” for me to find a business partner who was just like me. I had done this before, and while I laughed and cavorted with those guys, we agreed all too easily on strategies and tactics. There was no, and as Thomas Jefferson would have said, "Opposing wheel." Those relationships were frictionless in terms of productive debate. And so, the results of those debates were virtually inconsequential. It was just too easy for us to agree on everything.

When I knew that Mike and I would spend the morning strategizing, I made sure that I packed my lunch. For I knew that he was going to (generally) take the opposite side of the issue and defend that side to the death. In time, I learned that it was these very strategy meetings that resulted in the success that both of our businesses achieved.

So I ask that you think of this the next time you “partner up.” Don't look for someone who sees the world just as you do. Instead, look for someone who "pushes back." His or her arguments have to be sane and rational, of course. But if they are, and if you can deal with the fact that your business partner is not going to simply roll over and agree with you at every turn, you are going to find yourself making a very high percentage of good decisions when it comes to your business. And after all, isn't that what success is all about?

Most small business owners do have a partner or a confidant whom they can trust explicitly. But trust is only part of the battle. You must also look real hard to see if this individual's personality and decision-making processes are merely a reflection of your own. Because if this is the case, you’re most likely headed for major trouble.

One more thing … it’s not just about finding your opposite. This is not enough. Instead, you’ve got to find your opposite and have great respect for that "opposite" too. I know that if I would not have respected Mike as I did, our relationship would never have worked out. Mike had a way of making his point, but supporting it with arguments that made sense to me. And so, and as time went along, he patiently and quietly “reprogrammed” me. He made me see the wisdom of his view of the world. This took a lot of work on his part, but it changed me and thus made me a better businessman and person.

So this is what we mean when we say, “The most productive relationships are the hardest.”

Now, go out and find your "productive opposite." You'll thank me when you make your first million.