We Thrive Because We Are Cooperative

I read a fascinating editorial by David Brooks, People Are More Generous Than You May Think. A line stood out, “Humanity hasn’t thrived all these centuries because we’re ruthlessly selfish; we’ve thrived because we’re really good at cooperation.”

I had to re-read the article a few times, but it gradually sunk in. As I reflect on what we see happening in buying/selling, we see validation of this in virtually every interaction.

When we focus on ourselves, our goals, our quotas, we find it virtually impossible to connect and engage with customers. What they care about is different, until we shift our perspectives, we can’t engage them.

The world is more complex, the day of the Lone Wolf is long past. We need support and help from our peers, managers, others in the organization. Likewise, our customers need help–not just from people in their organizations, but from sellers who care about their success and can help them achieve success.

We are increasingly dependent on “ecosystems.” Again, this is because we can’t solve our problems in isolation, we need others with diverse experiences and knowledge to help them.

People respond to people who care about them. Who are interested and interesting. We read of mental health issues resulting from WFH, isolation, and lack of interaction with others. We thrive when we are engaged, interacting with others. We thrive when we are cooperating and collaborating.

Of course we see non-cooperative behaviors. We see countless acts of self focus and lack of concern/caring for anyone but one’s self. But these are not sustainable behaviors, over time.

But what if we thought about it more aggressively and proactively. What would happen if we were more purposefully and proactively cooperative and collaborative? Would this drive better experience, greater engagement, greater caring, greater shared success.

Action: For the next month, seek to be more proactively cooperative–with your peers, with your team, the people you lead, your customers, and in your community. See what a difference it makes. I suspect it will be huge, and we, each, should persist.