Southern California is a region rife with stereotypes: the Hollywood and car cultures of Los Angeles, the beach mentality of the coast, the Orange Curtain between Orange County and the rest of the area. But three Company of Friends cells have been collaborating to break free of such limitations. Since mid-June, 10 members of the LA, Long Beach, and Orange County chapters have been designing an October event to bring southern California's multiple business communities closer and to help other teams and organizations worldwide with collaboration.

Don't Let Distance Breed Difference While many regional differences are stereotypes, some distinctions do exist among LA, Long Beach, and Orange County, says Mickele Hughes, coordinator of the Orange County CoF cell. 'Our cells' differences mirror those of our geographic locations,' Hughes says. 'Compare us with LA, and we're almost a baby in business.'

But take a regional view and you can bridge difference, overcome distance, and even bring in new business, says Benjamin Cien, co-coordinator of the LA group. 'Although we're in different cities and counties, we work in one economy.'

Find a Foundation Discovering a common platform for interaction can help overcome regional and cultural differences in business, says Tom Anderson, a self-proclaimed 'resultant' with Long Beach - based Real Work Business Results Inc. 'I travel a lot and often visit CoF cells around the world,' he says. 'Most teams I work with have three or four meetings just to get going. This event team had a much better starting point, and having the magazine as a foundation was a plus.'

Learn by Leading While a strong leader can often help a project or team succeed, a team of leaders will increase the chances of success, says Hughes. 'If you have a strong leader and organization, people will come up with their own ideas and create their own leadership roles.' Cien took it upon himself to start an online mailing list for the team. And Hughes volunteered to develop a database of potential local exhibitors, speakers, and supporters. 'It only takes a few actors to make something big happen,' she says.

Build for Reuse Before Cien began planning the CoF Roadshow event in southern California, he had never thought to plan ahead with cell members for future events. 'We're putting a lot of energy into this program,' he says. 'Why not implement the same program in a different location with a different group of participants? We have a feel for organizing events now. We can share that with others. It's not quite off the shelf, but it's certainly reusable.'

Coordinates: Tom Anderson, tom@realwork.net; Benjamin Cien, bcien@cannondesign.com; Mickele Hughes, mhughes@tdmedia.com