Last year, I shared one of my favorite maxims, which came from the autobiography of John H. Johnson, founder of Johnson Publishing Company, which published JET and Ebony magazines. See that post, with the backstory, here. Here’s what Johnson’s boss at the time, Harry H. Pace, told him:

If you want to succeed in business, young man, you’ve got to learn how to work with people that you don’t like. And you’ve got to learn how to compromise. After you compromise, you have to forget the past and go on to the future. For in business, you have no permanent enemies or permanent friends—only permanent interests.

Today I shared this with an entrepreneur friend who’s refusing to negotiate with an important supplier because of the supplier’s personality. Because she’s doing this, my friend can’t source the products her customers want and is forgoing some revenue. It’s a lose-lose situation for her and her supplier.

Business is full of characters and people with strong personalities, among other things. You aren’t going to be friends with everyone you need to do business with. Regardless of how you feel about someone, if you need them to accomplish a goal or objective, you’ve got to figure out how to get past personality differences and work with them. Pace put it best: “In business, you have no permanent enemies or permanent friends—only permanent interests.”