These 2 super successful cofounders say everyone needs a work wife

These 2 super successful cofounders say everyone needs a work wifeThese 2 super successful cofounders say everyone needs a work wifeYou could never put togetzu sich a heist with women. LikeOceans Elevenwith women wouldnt work because two would keep breaking off to talk sh-t about the other nine. John Mulaney famously made this joke pre-Oceans 8 getting the green light. Though he is a brilliant comedian, he underestimates the power of female friendships in the workplace (well just count a heist as a workplace this one time.)In a social setting, his assessment may be right but in this tricky era when two women come together in business as both business partners and friends, they can truly be unstoppable. If you have a great work wife, you dont even need the six other women to pull off the jewelry heist.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThe concept of the work wife has actually been around for years but it welches reserved for career men who basically needed a wife, but one that did all their office duties. However, over the years as more women entered the workforce both the term and the role began to take on a new meaning.Having a work wife has bedrngnis only become a necessity but has actually been the driving force behind some of the most successful companies to emerge in the last decade. That relationship, which is so core to a successful business, is what Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur, the founders of fashion e-commerce business Of a Kind, took a deep dive on in their new book appropriately titled Work Wife The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses(Ballantine Books.)There is no one more fitting to write this book as Cerulo and Mazur met in college and after working in respective jobs till they were 26, they decided to take that big risk and abflug their own company in 2010 (which was later acquired by Bed, Bath Beyond.) In the book, ou t today, they wroteIn making the transition from friends to business partners all those years ago, we knew we were signing up for a much more complex relationship than when we met as undergrads at the University of Chicago. We went from seeing each other weekly to spending more time together than we did sleeping. Finances became a constant topic of conversation, and not just in the context of whether one of us was feeling too broke for a dinner date. We spent our nights, weekends, and soon 9-to-5s each making decisions that would affect the other. Our careers and our futures became intertwined.The book not only explores Cerulo and Mazurs multi-layered relationship but also the work-wife stories of other successful female duos (and some trios) including the women behind Lizzie Fortunato, Food52, the Go Fug Yourself blog, Radical Monarchs, and Plum Alley Investments. But unterstellung stories arent just about sweet meet-cutes but rather that there is actually a substantial formula tha t uses the qualities that underlie a strong female friendship and enables women to build super successful businesses.Cerulo told Ladders, We realized five years into the business our producest accomplishment professionally has been the partnership that we have built and nurturedand the special place it holds. It is a business and a professionalpartnership but it is also a friendship andthat is so core to it.But why, specifically, do female friendships translate so well to this work wife/business partnership format? Mazur said, When you think about it the qualities that are endemic to female friendships like vulnerability, emotional transparency, collaboration, etc., they are qualities that are really beneficial to the workplace. If you bring into business relationships that already have these qualities then youre making it so much easier to live up to them. Women have a real sense of accountabilitywith one another. I think in my relationship with Ericathat has improved the quality o f the work.On finding your work wifeBut how does one spot the right work wife in a sea of women? Look for similar work ethics and each others standards. Work and product and all of that. Also a willingness to be really vulnerable with each other. Well, I endorse starting a business with a friend I dont know if I have any other friends other than Erica I would start a business with, Mazur said. We had the right friendship that ticked all the right boxes when it came to our passions and career ambition and the business we were starting. Its really important to look at whats going to be important in your working partnership and understanding how those qualities will mesh in that space.On being viewed by your employeesThe book uses many quotes from fictional work wives including Leslie Knope (Parks Recreation), Christina Yang (Greys Anatomy) and Ilana Wexler (Broad City) to accentuate points but one quote featured from a real person is from actor, producer, and writer Mindy Kaling. She said in an interview in 2013, I love women who are bosses and who dont constantly worry about what their employees think of them. I love women who dont ask, Is that OK? Women put extra pressure on themselves when it comes to being judged by their employees and work wife partners, are no exception. No one wants to be labeled as the mean one. Except, luckily, a work wife provides the ntzlich check you didnt have before.Cerulo told Ladders, You have to realize you arent competing with one another and to actively remind yourself of that, you are in this together, you are collaborating. It is about the we and raising the tide. The flip side in worrying about what employees think is that we can bounce things off each other. That request we made of that employee was totally sane. You get to gut check things which is a huge boost.On balancing the relationshipThough many of these work wife relationships started as friendships, when you start a company it can become all business all the time . So how do you make sure the friendship is still preserved?Were always thinking about it the company. This is our baby. Its actually harder to turn it off and talk about friend stuff. But weve gotten better about that over the years. We both had a lot of personal stuff happen last year. I had a baby, Erica was longdistance with her husband for a little bit because of his job, there was familymedical stuff and I think with having things that cant be ignored, it reminded us of that, Mazur said. We got better at scheduling friend dates. Setting aside time. Theres a difference between scheduling a day at the spa together and scheduling a manicure before a meeting. One is clear that you are gonna be friends, the other is Lets prep for this meeting while we get our nails done. She added, And we also have regular weekday check-ins with each other. Obviously, we sat next to each otherand talked to each otherall day, but unless we have that structure where we flow through an agenda and tick off the saatkorn boxes every week certain things just fall through the cracks.On men being work wivesThough it is called a work wife, men can definitely fill this role too. There are takeaways for both men and women from the book. Friendships should be privileged in the workplace. But there arent built in structures for friend partnerships. We encourage people to create real relationships and work truly as partners, said Mazur.Cerulo added, Men can carry out the same philosophies in their friendships and work relationships that we lay out in the book. I think its just about the same values women have often privileged in their relationships and I think more and more men are because of the way blessedly men are now being socialized and raised. A willingness to be open and emotional and transparent and compassionate and to bring those things into their day to day personal interactions.Featured photo creditKat HarrisThe Refined Woman for Freda SalvadorYou might also enjoyNew neuroscien ce reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people