Powers of Two

Whether in art, science or finance, many creative achievements or innovations are the result of two people working together.

Sometimes, history remembers only one of the two protagonists. For instance, the key role of Hitchcock’s wife was long underestimated, just as that of Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King’s right-hand man. The author studied many such pairs to understand their mode of operation. Each of the partners admitted that the other’s presence, though sometimes antagonistic, had enabled them to push their creativity further. Very often, these pairings involve two individuals with complementary roles, such as the visionary and the pragmatist, or the artist and the organizer, but without these roles necessarily being fixed. These pairs often had to strike the right level of distance, such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, who worked in the same café, but at separate tables!

The wide variety of examples and their analysis are fascinating. If you don’t already work with someone who stimulates your thinking and drives you to action, you’ll want to find such a partner quickly!