My partnership is strange in so many ways and I have been indicating that I am not sure if we are truly a team or a group.

Part of the challenge is that my two partners have known each other for 20+ years and I am the new entrant.  They don't need to share stories about siblings or difficult challenges because they already know everything about one another.   They are also both born and raised in Chicago - and except for brief stints in college and for one year when Mark with with Steve Jobs at Apple in 1983, have lived in Chicago their whole life.  I get to meet there families, help their kids, etc. 

I have started to approach the trust question with them in a different way - one where the vulnerabilities we share are closer to the ones in the Book the Five Dysfunctions of a Team.  What are the strengths and opportunities that we each bring to the partnership.  I feel we are making progress on this - but we still have a long way to go.