he Umbrella Story illustrates important lessons in creating and T maintaining a successful business through the entertaining story of Joe, an umbrella maker, and Bill, a store owner. The story chronicles their decision to go into business together and the successes and pitfalls they encounter along the way. What started out as a positive pairing of two individuals who needed each other, eroded over time into an unproductive, adversarial relationship. The futures of Joe, Bill and their respective companies were threatened if they did not 昀椀nd a way to work together and leverage each other’s strengths. The simple story told in these pages echoes what large corporations and those who represent them (dealers, distributors or reps) face every day in their business relationships. If they don’t act upon the lessons learned in this story, they’ll succumb to the forces threatening them — their competition, their technology and their greatest threat — each other. 3