Harper Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Hoda Kotb. Beyond the B+ Life... The Cost and Gift of Collaboration.

Harper Lee and Truman Capote were best friends growing up in Monroeville, Alabama. She was steady and watchful, he was flamboyant and fragile, and together they found in each other a partner for the imagination that sustained them both. As children they sharpened their voices side by side, inventing stories and imagining lives far beyond Monroeville. Collaboration came naturally then, long before either of them knew the weight those words would one day carry.

By 1960, Harper Lee had done the unthinkable. To Kill a Mockingbird was published to instant acclaim, and by the following year she held a Pulitzer Prize. She had written a book that was both literature and popular sensation, something few writers manage in a lifetime. She could have spent the next years continuing to ride her success, or begun her next book. Instead, she said yes when Truman Capote called.

He did not simply invite her to Kansas, he needed her there. Capote had taken on the story of the Clutter family murders, but it was slipping away from him. He was missing deadlines, drinking heavily, and adrift in a town that had no interest in him. His New York sharpness and flamboyance closed doors that had to be opened if the book was ever going to be written. Harper Lee’s presence changed everything. She was the one who won over wary townspeople, who sat in kitchens and church pews, who asked the kind of patient questions that made people trust her. She took meticulous notes and steadied the project when it was collapsing under the weight of his excesses. It is not an exaggeration to say Capote might not have been able to finish In Cold Blood without her. She, on the other hand, had already proven she could do To Kill a Mockingbird without him.

Yet when success shifted, their collaboration could not hold. Rumors began to spread that Capote had written parts of Mockingbird. Lee dismissed them with quiet fury. “My book is my book,” she said. Capote did nothing to stop the gossip. In fact, he fanned it, telling friends he had “helped shape it.” Their bond, once rooted in mutual trust, soured. She had set aside her own work at the height of her success to help him through his greatest struggle. He could not stand beside her triumph without needing to claim a piece of it.

When In Cold Blood was finally published, Capote gave her only a cursory acknowledgment, a footnote compared to the years of labor and access she had provided. The imbalance was stark. She gave him what he needed most, when he needed it most. He repaid her by undermining the greatest work of her life.

This is not the peril of collaboration. It is the inner challenge of it. To collaborate well, you must not only be a good partner but also a generous witness to the success of others. Especially when those others began beside you and then rose higher. Harper Lee could be proud of Capote’s work even though she had already surpassed him. Capote, unable to quiet his jealousy, could not do the same for her.

Shonda Rhimes writes in Year of Yes about what it takes to grow beyond comfort, including letting some relationships fade. She admits to feeling torn when she began saying yes to opportunities, that her success created distance from people who could not or would not celebrate that change. One quote captures it: “I did not know how to celebrate my success in the face of my friends’ continued struggles. I worried that they would think I thought that I was a better writer than they were.” This tug, that of being proud but also of feeling like you must downplay what has changed, is the same challenge Lee faced when Capote tried to claim parts of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Hoda Kotb, speaking at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit, offered a sharp warning. “A good enough life is not good enough.” She gave me an aha moment when she pointed out that being comfortable, what she calls a B+ life, is dangerous precisely because it rarely spurs change. When life feels just good enough, the impulse to stretch, risk, grow, or break from the status quo is dulled. This echoes the tension in collaborations. When one rises, the question becomes not only what you did, but what your friends or collaborators do with your change, whether they push you forward or hold you back.

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That is the insider’s work of collaboration. To celebrate another’s strength without feeling our own diminish. To hold the circle steady when the balance shifts. To be able to walk away if someone cannot celebrate, elevate, and participate in your success. And most of all, to search inside yourself to make sure you are a Shonda, or a Hoda, or a Harper, because that is the point of it all.

— Christine Merser, Managing Partner, Blue 2 Media

Christine Merser has been a leading marketing strategist for over thirty years, working with companies, politicians, and individuals to achieve groundbreaking success. Her innovative strategies and forward-thinking approaches have inspired others to redefine how they reach their marketing goals. Known for her curiosity, creativity, and ability to adapt to ever-changing landscapes, Christine continues to shape the future of marketing with fresh perspectives and actionable insights. Her first book on business, Circles of Collaboration, just dropped, charting how women throughout history have used collaboration as a more powerful model for success than traditional pyramid leadership structures. Blending stories, data, and a fresh realignment of concepts like quid pro quo and “doing the ask,” the book is already being discussed as a game changer for achieving goals and visions for women moving forward.