Hi Brooke,

I’m starting a new shoe business with my brother. It’s based on an idea I came up with last year. It’s a new concept in shoe design that allows for the color and style to be changed out on a women’s high heel shoe. So the idea is that you can have one base shoe with a infinite amount of colors and styles to match your outfits.

Anyway, my brother and I are partnering on the idea together. He’s more of the business/finance person and I’m more of the designer/artist. However, I’m starting to feel like he’s edging in and trying to take more credit for the idea. In fact, he came up with one idea that may or may not work and now seems to feel that his idea is the backbone behind the success of the whole concept. Really flabbergasting to me but not that unexpected when I think about our dynamic.

I’m the fiery, creative, artist type that has tons of ideas. And he’s the older brother/wiser one who is better with people/finances.

I’m just starting to realize how angry I feel about his taking credit for my idea and I’ll be damned if I let him. (I’m a bit leery of this type of behavior because I’ve seen him do this in the past with my family as he always tries to credit for things and represent himself in the best light.)

So here’s some of the unintentional models that I’m starting to be aware of.

C: My new shoe design concept
T: My brother is trying to take credit for my design
F: Angry (he always does this)
A: Avoid dealing with him
R: tension in our relationship and lack of communication

C: My new shoe design concept
T: My brother is trying to take credit for my design
F: Protective of my design
A: Make sure I take credit for my design and sign my drawings and prototypes, document everything and speak up about my designs in meetings etc
R: Competition but he doesn’t get credit for my design

Not sure if there’s a better intentional model? Any ideas? Thanks!