How To Collaborate Your Way To The Top
Leaders earn their paychecks by moving faster, farther and sooner than others to gain a competitive advantage. But people who worry foremost about their relative position in the market misunderstand how the race is won.
Success in business and most other pursuits has more to do with building alliances, not pushing people out of the way. Competition may occur as a secondary consequence, but the ability to create value for others comes first.
Masters of this skill have a collaborative advantage—the real differentiator that sets innovators apart in a crowded field. One of my PhD students learned the distinction when another scholar scooped him on a research project.
Being first matters in academia. It’s why two University of Utah chemists rushed to announce their cold fusion “discovery” in 1989. They could have waited another 30 years and still been pioneers—if only their findings had been correct.
My student was more methodical on his project, and he worried that his due diligence had cost him. I had a different take when he came to me for advice.
“Don’t see the new research as a competitive threat,” I told him. “See it as a stepping stone. Build on it. Use it to make your own research better.”
His mindset shifted from competition to collaboration, and the quality of his work improved.
The knowledge exchange in his case was indirect. Other alliances bring partners together on the same teams, allowing people with different aspirations and abilities to specialize in what they do best while moving toward a common goal.
The principle is the same in either case. Those who collaborate best get ahead. Those who don’t get left behind. Here are five factors to consider when looking for synergies with indirect or direct allies.
Coke Needs Pepsi
First, you need rivals for the same reason that Coke needs Pepsi. People who work alone too long without competition lose their edge. They grow soft.
Big companies forget this principle when they use their political pull to ward off newcomers with burdensome regulatory oversight. Individual leaders do the same thing when they surround themselves with flatterers who never push back or disagree.
Protectionism on any scale kills innovation. This economic law does not mean you should prop up your rivals or hold back your best efforts to shield them from market forces. That is just protectionism in reverse.
A better approach is to find your market niche and fill it as energetically as possible. And if rivals come along who can do the same thing better than you, then learn from them and adjust. The result can be a virtuous spiral for both parties.
Markets Connect Strangers
Coke and Pepsi know each other. But complete strangers may also collaborate through the power of markets.
The phenomenon happens with every transaction along global supply chains. Buyers give money for raw materials, which become component parts, which become finished products. Complex items like cars might involve thousands of contributors in dozens of countries who never meet.
They don’t need to speak the same language, eat the same foods or practice the same religions. They depend on each other and collaborate by extension.
Simpler transactions work the same. No deal is done until both sides give up something they want for something they want more. The seller prefers money. The buyer prefers goods and services. Both walk away happier than they arrived.
Trade creates value
Some observers see trade as something cold or cruel when it squeezes individuals or firms out of the market.
Nobody likes to see bankruptcies or unemployment, especially when the person left without a job is you. But markets come with no guarantees. You have to make sure you continue to create wins for the other person.
Breakups, separations and rejections sometimes happen. But such outcomes are not the primary intent of collaboration.
The goal is to provide as much value as possible to the other person. Those who can’t match the level of service get left behind as a secondary consequence.
The process, called creative destruction, allows society to replace good ideas with better ideas. It’s the reason people drive cars now instead of horse-drawn carriages.
The change can be painful, but it drives upward mobility. Prices come down. Quality goes up. And adherence to the principle of voluntary trade creates the ultimate wins.
Coercion Plays No Role
But what if there is no voluntary choice? What if labor is forced? What if a company engages in fraud? What if governments intervene to pick winners and losers?
None of that is collaboration. True value creators understand that nobody has to destroy, exploit or cheat to get ahead. They avoid all forms of coercion when dealing with others.
Some people see a type of passive coercion when someone is forced to accept a lower-paying job or an economic option that is not ideal. They echo the sentiment of the late U.S. politician Adlai Stevenson, who said: “A hungry man is not a free man.”
They misunderstand. Trade does not mean that people always get what they want, but what others are willing to offer. Sometimes this means choosing the best among bad options—but always the best.
Excellence Inspires Excellence
Masters of collaboration take joy instead in building alliances with like-minded individuals.
They draw inspiration from rivals who expose their weaknesses. They follow market trends to obtain guidance from strangers. And they surround themselves on their own teams with allies who help them respond with winning ideas.
They do all these things deliberately.
Some people think business success is primarily about crushing the competition. But leaders who rise to the top actually do it by building up others.
Their ability to create deals that enrich everyone involved is not just another skill. It is their core competency—their true competitive advantage.
