“Shut up and listen”: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary shares his secret to successful partnerships

In business, partnership can sell or kill a deal. Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary knows this better than anyone. He counsels entrepreneurs on how to manage those tricky relations. His advice? Simple but effective:

“Shut up and listen.”

This kind of approach is critical to making any partnership, business or otherwise, work, according to O’Leary. It’s not about talking over each other; it’s about whatever the opposite of that is: respecting the other person’s ideas and opinions. O’Leary’s real trick: listening more than you talk, which is a golden rule for any partnership.

---

Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary on the power of listening

Kevin O'Leary's philosophy on partnerships is simple yet profound. On Shark Tank, he’s known for his tough-love approach, but even he acknowledges that it takes more than just business savvy to succeed in relationships. The key, O’Leary says, is listening.

“Partners, even if they don’t agree, want respect,”

he explains. Listening to their ideas—whether you agree with them or not—is vital. O’Leary emphasizes that this doesn't mean being passive. It's about hearing out your partner's perspective and then debating it respectfully. Without listening, you can forget about maintaining a partnership in any area of life.

In O’Leary's eyes, communication is the backbone of any successful venture. By hearing others out, you create an environment of mutual respect and understanding, making it easier to come to the table with solutions that benefit everyone involved. If your goal is long-term success, you’ll need to adopt this mindset, just like the entrepreneurs on Shark Tank do.

---

The secret to healthy business partnerships

O’Leary’s strategy for success is simple: build strong partnerships. Shark Tank has proven time and time again that deals can rise and fall depending on the relationship between the entrepreneur and their investors. Partnerships that work aren’t just in sync on business goals, they’re in sync on communication styles, too. If you were talking more than your partner, you are not giving your partner space to share their thoughts. And without that, the relationship will eventually run aground.

Consider, for instance, O’Leary’s work mentoring entrepreneurs on Shark Tank. He also relies on listening closely to the entrepreneurs’ pitches, considering their ideas within the context of his own experience. He doesn’t interrupt—he listens and digests, then responds. His guidance is not always easy to hear, but it’s always grounded in the recognition that good communication stems from more listening than talking.

---

Why listening works for both sides

Listening also isn’t a one-way street. O’Leary says it’s an important practice for both partners in any business relationship. When you listen, you create room for collaboration and for problem-solving. This is all the more critical in the high-pressure setting of Shark Tank, which requires founders to be high-impact at all times. The best decisions are the ones that take into account all sides (and listening to all parties involved), O'Leary knows this.

“If you don’t listen at all, you will never maintain a partnership in business or in a personal relationship,"

he warns.

It’s clear that O’Leary’s style of conducting business is predicated on mutual respect. Listening is not only about receiving words but empathizing with them. When you truly listen, you show your partner that you respect their opinion and are ready towork on a solution together. In the high-stakes world of Shark Tank, it can be the difference between finding an ideal deal and chasing your own tail.

---

The art of respectful debate

Listening doesn't mean agreeing with everything your partner says. Partnerships, as O’Leary notes, also need healthy debate.

“You have to listen to their ideas and then debate them,”

he says. This is where the real business gets done. Debate is important, because it clarifies ideas and resolves potential conflicts. But it only works if both sides are truly listening. The key to respectful debate is knowing where your partner is coming from before making the case for your own position, which is an approach that O’Leary has used again and again on Shark Tank.

A healthy debate also encourages innovation. By listening to each other’s ideas, it creates space for new possibilities and creative solutions. Absent this reciprocal investment, you’ve got a one-sided partnership unlikely to withstand the test of time. O’Leary’s approach means that every partner has a voice, and everyone’s voice is heard prior to decisions being made.

---

Why you should follow O’Leary’s advice

Whether in business, in a personal relationship or even just trying to navigate day-to-day interactions, O’Leary’s advice applies: speak one-third of the time, listen two-thirds of the time. It’s a strategy that encourages respect and creates strong, long-lasting ties. O’Leary’s approach on Shark Tank shows that the success of any partnership has little to do with the best ideas, but rather the best communication.

So next you find yourself in a partnership, consider taking a page from O’Leary’s book. Shut up and listen. It is essential to making partnerships work — and to continue to make them work in the long run.