The Elephant in the Room: How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations

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Focusing Investments, Managing Costs

That's pretty much how I feel about relationships. They're totally irrational, crazy, and absurd. But I guess we keep going through it because most of us need the eggs.

—WOODY ALLEN, ANNIE HALL

At the end of Annie Hall, the classic 1977 film about relationships, Woody Allen tells an old joke about a guy who goes to a psychiatrist and says, “Doc, my brother's crazy. He thinks he's a chicken.” Horrified, the doctor asks why he hasn't already committed him. “I would,” the guy answers, “but I need the eggs.”

The point is, as difficult as relationships can be, we need what they give us, even if it's all in ...