---
id: "quote-partner-or-die"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶2"]
tags: ["collaboration", "imperative"]
related: ["claim-formal-structure-insufficient", "concept-bridger"]
speaker: "Unnamed executive (cited by authors)"
speakers: ["Unnamed executive (cited by authors)"]
quote: "partner or die"
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/why-great-innovations-fail-to-scale"
source_title: "Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale"
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-nm-102-innovations-fail-to-scale"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/why-great-innovations-fail-to-scale"
sourceTitle: "Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale"
---
# Partner or die

> Organizations must **'partner or die,'** as one executive told us. But sharing the driver's seat is difficult.

**Speaker:** an unnamed executive, cited by the authors. This quote frames the article's premise that today's complex, specialized, AI-driven landscape makes cross-boundary collaboration a survival imperative — and sets up why [[claim-formal-structure-insufficient|structure alone is not enough]] and why [[concept-bridger|bridgers]] are needed to make partnering actually work.