Competition vs. Cooperation
One of the things my father taught me was the spirit of competition. As a result, I’ve always been a competitive person. When I decide I want to participate in something, I want to win. Period.
That is, when I choose to make it a competitive situation. I don’t view everything in my life as a competition. Some people do. Every single thing they engage in must be a competition. And, every single person they deal with is a competitor.
Years ago, I worked for a company that viewed EVERYONE as a competitor. It was crazy – any person who owned their own company was a competitor…even if they didn’t do the same kind of work. It would be like saying staffing companies and insurance brokers are competitors. Yes, they might share some clients…but they really don’t provide the same product/service.
That’s when I realized I needed to understand when to compete and when to collaborate. (Note to our candidates and elected officials in Washington DC, here are some tips below.)
When an issue impacts a large group of people, that’s not the time for competition. For example, when a hurricane, flood, or snow storm happens. Or we have a financial crisis. That’s not the time to point fingers, bad-mouth your colleagues, throw folks under the bus, or be perceived as opportunistic. It is the time to roll up your sleeves and, as Tim Gunn says, “make it work”.
When an issue has a long-lasting impact on our everyday lives, like health care, education, or the environment. These are the times when competitors should pull their strengths together to remove major obstacles and solve problems. Just as an example, health care will always exist…because we all need our health (seems obvious, right?) If we could work together to actually fix what’s broken with health care, maybe we would have more people using the system. That’s called more customers.
It’s possible that we could create more demand, greater participation, and stimulate economic growth if we cooperate a little with our competitors. Then all of us can turn our energies to gaining greater market share.
Make it work!
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