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I am an artist. Which means on any given day I have a lot of visions rolling around in my head. Over the years I\u2019ve learned to refine my craft and sharpen the edge of those visions but the thing I am most glad of is that over the years I\u2019ve learned that my visions have only improved as I\u2019ve become a better and better collaborator. A lot of designers like to call themselves custom designers but in the end just use their client\u2019s home to overlay their own formula. But in my opinion you cannot truly be a custom home designer if you can\u2019t embrace someone else\u2019s story. So in the end you need to share the credit with someone else. You need to collaborate.

There are three core principles which fuel a successful collaboration:

First, the humble acceptance that your vision, no matter how great, has limits\u2014you do not and cannot see all ends.

Second, there must be a fundamental belief that other\u2019s perspectives have something truly valuable to contribute. Something which will ultimately make the expression of your vision better than it ever could have been alone.

Third, because you do not know it all or see it all, you must accept that your vision can afford to evolve. That means change. Change is hard, but change is life.

We can disagree. We will disagree. But the rules of collaboration require that when disagreements arise instead of going on the offensive we first look inside ourselves to reexamine what is truly important and, most importantly, to discover why, and then find a way forward.

As the old saying goes, \u201cIn essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.\u201d

Collaboration, like all good improvisation, is never, \u201cNo, but \u2026\u201d It\u2019s always, \u201cYes, and \u2026\u201d

Collaboration requires equal parts honesty, respect, self-confidence, patience, and trust.

Collaboration at its most magical is confidence and boldness wrapped in humility and deference. It\u2019s a powerful thing. It\u2019s a beautiful thing. It\u2019s a dance. A dance whose rhythm comes from separately beating hearts believing our individual lives will be better if we make these moves together.

Unity is not very popular these days. In fact, the most popular voices right now are the most divisive ones. That\u2019s not hard to understand. Divisiveness is easy because to remain divided means you don\u2019t have to change. But make no mistake, the voices which call us to entrench ourselves in our own limited perspectives are calling us to be nothing but our smallest selves.

Every collaborator should remember the old African proverb which says, \u201cIf you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.\u201d

Collaborate is much more than just tolerate. Collaboration is not about having to work together, it\u2019s about wanting to work together because you believe that together we have an even better chance of building ourselves a beautiful life.