Cooperation is better than competition
Summary
- In ecosystems, cooperation significantly expands what is possible and improves the quality of life
Details
- Look for opportunities for collaboration more than we look for competition.
References
Quotes
We commonly think of biological cooperation as a win-win arrangement for the parties involved. You have a need. Someone fills it in. In exchange, you fill one of their needs. You don’t require cooperation to survive, but with it the quality of your life improves. A shark doesn’t need little fish to clean its teeth in order to live that day, but overall the quality of the shark’s life is enhanced because clean teeth mean healthy teeth, which will give it more years to feed on prey. Cooperation significantly expands what’s possible, by creating emergent properties that have more power than the individual componen
The lesson here is, how often do you look for opportunities for collaboration? We often talk of the competition—what they are doing, what direction they are headed—so we can keep up where we need to and not get blindsided or lose too much market share. But how many of us devote resources to looking for “the cooperation”—companies or industries with whom we can partner for mutual benefit?