Written by Brad Cho of Vision Arena
People fundamentally dislike competition. And they like cooperation. Cooperation warms the heart and makes us feel that we can rely on one another. Because people are social animals, they can find greater happiness within warm social networks shared with family, friends, colleagues, and others. Competition, of course, also provides important benefits. Through competition, we can not only experience the achievement of defeating a rival but also improve and grow in the process.
What, then, is the reality in South Korea? The education system and social expectations are structured so that, from childhood, people inevitably become accustomed to competing with one another for opportunities as narrow as the eye of a needle to enter good high schools, universities, and workplaces. We therefore naturally develop a frame of mind in which trusting our abilities, working hard, and taking the lead in competition with those around us seems to be an effective path to a promising future. Cooperation is hard to see within that competition. Yet how we view competition and cooperation in business and life is extremely important, and it leads us to live in entirely different ways.
Take a brief moment to reflect on each of the questions below
- Who is currently my competitor, and who is my partner?
- What criteria do I use to distinguish competitors from partners?
- Can a competitor become a partner?
- Could a partner become a competitor?
These questions mean that competition and cooperation are two sides of the same coin. The key to success in business and life, therefore, is to find a balance between them rather than leaning toward one or the other. The technical term for this concept of considering competition and cooperation together is coopetition (Coopetition, a combination of Cooperation and Competition).
In business, this kind of coopetition must deliver results while satisfying customers more fully. Competition and cooperation are both necessary in that process. A monopoly without competition, or a low-quality product offered in isolation, is not desirable for customers either. In life, we may feel competitive with colleagues or friends around us, but that feeling can take on a productive meaning when it is grounded in a desire to learn from one another and grow.
Look closely at what this means, and a competitor is also a kind of partner who shows me a different way and helps me recognize things I had not considered. Likewise, a partner who helps me in one area may also be a competitor whose interests conflict with mine in another.
How to understand and manage competition and cooperation together in harmony therefore becomes an indispensable strategy for building relationships with those around us. Now that we have a broad understanding of their complementary relationship, I would like to share a few more thoughts on how to approach it in our time.
A. Competition Comes from Beyond Established Boundaries
We should no longer think only about the competitors immediately visible to us; we must also consider competitors beyond existing boundaries. Airbnb (AirBnB), a service through which individuals rent rooms to one another, has already surpassed Hilton, the world’s largest hotel chain, in corporate value. Uber, which connects people who need rides with drivers, is also transforming taxi and transportation markets worldwide. With advances in technology and the global connectivity enabled by the internet and smartphones, traditional industry boundaries are no longer as clear as they once were. The same is true for individuals.
IBM now earns revenue from an artificial intelligence called Watson that is, in some respects, smarter than humans. One of Watson’s tasks is to examine patients and issue simple prescriptions. It does this using data, and doctors then use its output. It can also recommend financial products tailored to individuals and provide related advice. The future job security of average doctors and financial product designers and advisers is limited. For product delivery, companies such as Google and Amazon also plan to use drones and autonomous vehicles. Jobs in logistics are not safe from future change either.
B. The Era of Growth for Companies That Cooperate Well
Have you heard the term ecosystem? Companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook do not simply make good products/services, offer them to customers, and earn profits. In the process, they cooperate extremely effectively with external partners. Apple’s App Store, for example, has a cooperative structure in which outside developers create apps that make Apple products more compelling and share in the revenue.
The essence of cooperation lies in mutual trust and clarity about the value it creates. Good cooperation therefore requires holistic give-big, gain-big thinking: what can I concede to the other party, and what can I take so that everyone ultimately benefits?
C. Beyond Competition and Cooperation, the Customer Is the Ultimate Goal
Both the effort to stay one step ahead of competitors and the effort to build a sustainable ecosystem through cooperation are ultimately about being chosen by customers—while securing lasting and complete customer relationships. In this process, relationships of competition/cooperation act as a catalyst that breaks us free from fixed ideas.
Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma’s remark to the effect that ‘We do not pay much attention to competition. Competitors teach us. Learning is also a good way to put pressure on them.’ can be understood in the same context. What about life? When our purpose in life becomes clear, we discover ourselves in our competitors. At times, we may even feel a sense of camaraderie with them as people striving toward goals similar to our own.
Do you now feel motivated to compete and cooperate at a higher level than before? Either topic could fill an entire book, but here I will have to settle for offering a few key tips.
Practical Ways to Improve Competition and Cooperation
- Understand the ultimate goal I want to achieve.
- If there is an ultimate customer, view the world from that person’s perspective.
- Identify the true competitor, then learn from that competitor.
- Partners are easier to find among people who share similar goals and worldviews.
- Share a long-term vision that you and your partners can pursue together.
- A giver (Giver), who finds joy in giving, is the best kind of partner.
- I, too, adopt a giver (Giver) mindset and treat people with goodwill.
- If conduct that violates the spirit of cooperation is discovered, act immediately. (Issue a warning or impose a substantive penalty)
- Because people inevitably make mistakes, give them at least one more chance.
- Repeat the above continuously.
This concludes our discussion of competition and cooperation together. Companies usually prefer to talk more about competition—especially unlimited competition—because they believe this helps them respond with a sense of crisis. In reality, however, success belongs to companies that consider both competition and cooperation and actively cultivate them. It is said that the honesty required for self-reflection is a sign of strength and a measure of how long a person can continue to grow.
The same applies to cooperation. The ability to cooperate is not a weakness that looks naive and dependent, but a clear commitment by strong people to embrace competition and cooperation at once and turn the uncertainty they entail into opportunity.
Only a few days remain in this year. I hope the coming year will be one in which everyone embraces a stronger attitude toward life.
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