Working side by side in their new sunlit prem in Oakland, California, making custom-made books in leather and cloth, everything seemed to be coming together for husband-and-wife team Ivar Diehl and Danya Winterman, co-founders of The Key Printing and Binding. But their marriage was in difficulties and last year they separated. But first they made a vow: “We promised that if we split up we would try to keep our business partnership going. It would have been too great a shame to destroy something we had built together,” says Mr Diehl.

作为关键印刷装订公司(The Key Printing and Binding)共同创始人，伊瓦尔迪尔(Ivar Diehl)和丹尼亚温特曼(Danya Winterman)组成的夫妻团队（上图），在位于加利福尼亚州奥克兰市的充满阳光的新房子中并肩工作，用皮革和布料制作着定制书籍——一切似乎都是两人共同打拼来的。不过，两人的婚姻却遭遇了困难，并于去年离婚了。然而，他们做的头一件事，就是发下了一个誓言。迪尔表示：“我们承诺，就算我们分开了，我们也会努力将我们的商业伙伴关系维持下去。毁掉某种我们共同打造的东西，那是太大的遗憾。”

Co-founder couples who remain wedded to their business after ending their marriage may not be common but they are becoming less rare. Abba, the double-couple band that became double-divorced, continued to record hits after Agnethaand Ulvaeus split, although the next divorce brought the curtain down. Eighteen years after separating from the hairdresser Nicky Clarke, Lesley Clarke still directs the business side of the eponymous salon and haircare brand. The restaurateur Rick Stein and his former wife Jill divorced eight years ago but continue to open new ventures together, with Ms Stein designing the interiors.

共同创业的配偶在结束婚姻后保持商业上的密切关系或许并不常见，但这种现象正变得不那么少见了。Abba乐队就曾由原本的两对夫妇，变成两对离异夫妇。在阿格妮莎輠斯克格(Agnetha)和比约恩攠瓦尔斯(Bj爀渀 Ulvaeus)离婚后，该乐队依旧创作出了成功的歌曲——尽管另一对夫妇的离异终于令乐队散伙。在和美容师尼基克拉克(Nicky Clarke)离婚18年后，莱斯莉克拉克(Lesley Clarke)仍主管着同名美发护发品牌的商业事宜。餐馆老板里克斯坦(Rick Stein) 8年前和前妻吉尔(Jill)离婚，却继续和她一同开办新的分店，并由斯坦女士设计内部装潢。

And in start-up land, couples who go into business together and fall out of love are a recognised phenomenon. “It’s an archetype we see more and more because succeeding at marriage is hard enough without the added stress of running a business together,” says Mich Crosby, co-founder of Wevorce, a San Francisco-based business that helps couples in business divorce amicably.

在初创企业方面，配偶共同创业而又不再相爱是一种并不难见到的现象。Wevorce共同创始人米歇尔克罗斯比(Michelle Crosby)表示：“这种典型现象我们见得越来越多，因为即便没有共同运营企业的额外压力，要取得婚姻的成功也已经够难了。”Wevorce是一家总部位于旧金山的企业，致力于帮助商界配偶友好离婚。

Some estranged couples cannot to buy each other out and soldier on as business partners out of necessity. Ambition, loyalty to staff and respect for each other’s talents can all be influential too — the flamboyant Mr Clarke, for example, has said that without the guiding acumen of Ms Clarke he would not have had a brand. But when couples can no longer live together, what hope is there that they will see eye to eye as business partners?

部分离异配偶财力还没有雄厚到能买断对方股份的地步，出于必要而以商业伙伴的身份继续走下去。此外，对未来发展的雄心、对员工的忠诚以及对彼此才能的尊重，也都会影响到这一决定的做出。比如，张扬的克拉克先生就曾表示，没有克拉克太太敏锐的领导直觉，他不可能打造出一个品牌。然而，当配偶们不能再生活在一起时，又如何能作为商业伙伴做到意见一致呢？

Before addressing the commercial of a break-up, Ms Crosby, who is divorced, advises couples to tackle the pain — especially if one side has been unfaithful — in order to the emotional needs from the legal and financial resolutions that must be reached. Otherwise the likelihood is that resentment will fester and make working together impossible. “What we often see is ‘the betrayer’ throwing in a lot of money in an attempt to fix things, and in six months the settlement comes unstuck because the betrayer no longer feels guilty and the other party is still angry,” Ms Crosby says.

已经离异的克罗斯比建议配偶们，在解决离异带来的商业冲击前，先处理它造成的痛苦——尤其是如果一方有不忠行为的话——以便将情感上的需求从必须达成的法律和财务决定中摘出来。否则，双方的憎恨情绪很可能会恶化，从而抹煞了相互合作的可能性。克罗斯比表示：“我们经常见到的情形，是‘背叛者’试图扔出一大笔钱弥补过失，而6个月后双方的和解却走向失败，因为背叛者不再感到愧疚，而另一方却仍然愤愤不平。”

Sometimes estranged couples are doing fine professionally; then a wound reopens, emotions resurface and the whole thing starts to unravel. One co-founder, who asked not to be named,how office relations soured when she began dating again. “[My ex] began behaving as if he could no longer trust me [with the even though our break-up was amicable.”

有时候，离异配偶在生意上原本相处得不错，然后双方间的伤口却被再次揭开，种种情绪再次表露出来，整个局面开始走向崩溃。一位要求不公开名字的公司联合创始人还记得，当她再次开始约会时，她和前夫的办公室关系开始变味。“（我前夫的）行为方式开始变得好像他（在财务上）不能再信任我——尽管我们是和平分手的。”

Perpetual fireworks are probably a sign that the estranged couple are no more compatible as business partners than as spouses, but occasional upsets are generally survivable so long as both sides share a goal and are willing to be generous, say those with personal experience. Ms Winterman and Mr Diehl agreed for the sake of their baby daughter and their business to treat each other with the consideration due to old friends, taking breaks to cool off when the stress of meeting production deadlines and dissolving their marriage at the same time became too much.

离异配偶间持续不断的战火，或许表明双方做商业伙伴的相容性并不比做配偶高。不过，那些有过亲身体会的人表示，只要双方拥有共同目标并愿意慷慨相待，偶尔的不快通常是没有问题的。为了年幼的女儿以及他们的企业，温特曼女士和迪尔先生达成了协议，以对老朋友的心态对待彼此。当产品按时交货的压力与同时袭来的婚姻解体压力超出他们的承受能力时，他们会休息休息，冷却一下。

“When you know someone so well, a tone of voice that’s a little off can be a really emotional thing,” says Ms Winterman. The levelheadedness of a third co-founder who is a trusted friend has them navigate “some of the weirdness”, of the situation and “kept us slightly better behaved than we might otherwise be”, she adds.

温特曼女士表示：“如果你对某人如此熟悉，语气上的一点点过火，都可能实实在在地影响到双方的情绪。”她补充说，还有一位共同创始人是他们信赖的朋友，这位朋友的冷静帮助他们部分克服了这种关系中的“古怪”，并“让我们采取更好的行为方式，否则我们可能做得比这糟糕”。

Strategies that conventional business partners employ to avert gridlock — from consulting a neutral party to flipping a coin can also help exes resolve workplace disagreements peaceably. Ms Crosby, who once hired her ex-husband as her operations head, warns that when former spouses argue, old patterns of confrontation resurface.

那些普通商业伙伴用于避免出现僵局的策略——从咨询中立方到扔硬币——对离异配偶和平解决生意中的分歧也有帮助。曾聘用前夫做运营主管的克罗斯比警告称，曾经的配偶争辩时，旧的对峙模式会再次出现。

To avoid being sucked into fights, she advises couples to heed normal office etiquette in their dealings with each other. Recalling a pricing disagreement with her ex that turned personal in public, she reflects that “an ex knows what buttons to push [to rile you].”

为避免陷入冲突，她建议配偶们在与对方相处时注意保持正常的办公室礼节。她还记得，有一次与前夫在定价上的分歧演变成了当众的个人冲突。对此，她反思道：“你的前任知道按哪个钮（能激怒你）。”

Keeping rumour-mongers at bay is often a concern when co-founder couples split, as suppliers may fret that the business will fold and employees fear for their jobs. British couple Louisa Scott and Jez John over what to tell staff at their jointly owned businesses Webstars, a digital agency, and Make My Day, a music business, when they separated in 2006.

如何堵住谣言，往往是共同创业的配偶离异时的一大顾虑，因为供应商可能会担心该企业会散伙，员工则会担心丢掉他们的工作。2006年，英国夫妇路易莎斯科特(Louisa Scott)和杰斯约翰(Jez John)离婚时，他们大伤脑筋，不知该如何告诉他们共同拥有的企业Webstars和Make My Day的员工。Webstars是一家数字化代理商，而Make My Day则是一家音乐企业。

Eventually, Mr John broke the news matter-of-factly during an office briefing devoted mainly to plans for expansion. In the following months, the couple spoke often — and even joked in public — about their separation, emphasising that nothing other than their domestic arrangements were about to change. “I think initially the staff worried that the family feel in the office would change. But the fact that we were very open, coupled with Jez’s bad jokes, helped to take away the awkwardness of the situation,” says Ms Scott.

最终，约翰在一个主题为企业扩张规划的公司通气会上，实事求是地披露了这一消息。在之后几个月，两人经常谈到他们的离异——甚至还会当众用这个话题开玩笑。在谈话中，他们强调除了他们家庭内部的安排，其他方面都不会改变。斯科特表示：“我想，员工们起初担心公司里家庭般的感觉会发生变化。然而，我们极其开放的态度，再加上杰斯拙劣的笑话，帮助消除了这一局面带来的尴尬。”

A domestic break-up will oblige co-owners to rethink how they make decisions and share information. Divorcees Rick Rivera and Lisa Layton, co-owners of American Car Craft, an auto accessories business, say they work better as business partners than they ever did as a couple. But they miss the nonstop talk that spilled over from the office into domestic life. “We discussed business all the time, even in bed,” says Ms Layton. “I feel it takes us longer to make things happenwe had regular meetings the business would grow faster.”

家庭的破裂会迫使企业的共同所有者重新思考决策和信息分享的方式。已离异的里克里韦拉(Rick Rivera)和莉萨莱顿(Lisa Layton)是汽车配件企业American Car Craft的共同所有者。他们表示，作为商业伙伴，他们的合作比作为夫妻的任何时候都好。不过，他们很怀念从公司延伸至家庭生活的不停歇的谈话。莱顿表示：“我们会在一切时间讨论生意——甚至是在床上。我感觉现在做事情花的时间要长一些……如果我们定期召开会议，企业的成长会快一些。”

For some couples a break-up highlights a need to adapt as the business matures. Mr John and Ms Scott say they now run decisions past each other rather than assume that they know the other’s opinion.

对某些夫妇来说，随着企业走向成熟，离异会愈发凸显出调整的必要性。约翰先生和斯科特女士表示，如今他们会先征求对方意见后再做决定，而不是假定自己知道对方的看法。

Having to pay the bills for two households while carving out a business niche has prompted Mr Diehl and Ms Winterman to diversify from purely bespoke work into making notebooks and journals decorated with graffiti art for galleries and writers’ stores.

由于要担负起两个家庭的开销，还要同时为自己的企业打造一席之地，迪尔和温特曼已把业务从纯粹的定制拓展开来，制作饰以涂鸦的笔记本和日记本，在画廊和面向写作者的店铺出售。

Working in the sight line of an ex is nevertheless awkward, Ms Winterman reflects. “In the past, Ivar would often show up for me an hour late. Now he runs out of the office to meet his girlfriend at the exact right moment. That’s really annoying to watch.”

不过，在前夫视线下工作确实很尴尬——温特曼反思道。“过去，伊瓦尔往往会为了我加班一个小时。如今，一到点他就跑出办公室去见女友了。这确实叫人看着心烦。”