Collaboration Will Take Us Where Competition Can’t

by Michael Sussman, Founder and CEO of OnTrackNorthAmerica and Consulting Chairman of CAPSI

At the heart of OnTrackNorthAmerica’s work is the advancement of collaboration and coordination as a superior orientation for government and business. But before establishing my own confidence in people’s ability to collaborate and work in the community’s best interests, I had to ponder, as many of us do, “Are people inherently compassionate or self-centered?” and "What is the true nature of humanity?”

Particularly in America, we have been taught that striving for individual success is best for everyone because the authority, Charles Darwin, said that evolution depended on it. “Survival of the Fittest” implies that humans are naturally selfish and that selfishness drives the advancement of the species. But is it possible that this belief exerts an undue and debilitating influence on society?

It occurred to me to read On the Origin of Species to see what Darwin actually said, not what I had been told he said. What I found was that Charles Darwin didn’t invent the phrase “Survival of the Fittest.” Contrary to prevailing belief, he wasn’t highlighting individual competition. Instead, he wrote that species, ecosystems, communities, and individuals are organized to support the community's long-term interests and future generations. In nature, the community provides the best perches, the best food, and the best resources to those amongst them that are strongest and, therefore, produce the healthiest offspring. He was inspired by the sacrifice and commitment of individual members to place their communities’ best interests before their own. Harmony within the community, not domination of the community, is what he observed. Charles Darwin concluded that individuals in nature are inherently social and communal and that these qualities produce sustainability.

So, how did we come to misapply Darwin’s transformative work? Why did we orient the modern world’s commerce and governance around competition and mistrust more than cooperation and trust? What would have us think that we must pit individuals, companies, organizations, political parties, and countries in an endless competition?

We remember that “Darwinism” came into vogue during the mid-19th century when American and British industrialists desperately wanted a belief system to justify their massive accumulation of control and capital. They sponsored members of a new intellectual field called Social Philosophy to promote a misreading of On the Origin of Species to give their domination cover. One of the movement’s leading figures was Herbert Spencer, the originator of “Survival of the Fittest.” The public’s access to Darwin’s book was rare, allowing those in power to influence public perception with biased speeches and articles under the guise of “science.”

We're all suffering under the influence of Spencer's false and destructive misinterpretation of nature and, indeed, humanity. Governance and commerce have since developed around an over-reliance on competitive debate, competing factions, and constant jockeying for attention and favors. Competition stifles our collective potential. Of course, competition has its place in sports, games, and some aspects of business. However, orienting our civilization’s primary functions around competition is outmoded and unsustainable. There’s a better way.

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The wisest placement of all the components of a sustainable industrial system is only possible through collaboration and coordination. It is highly inefficient for towns, counties, states, countries, and their businesses, to compete with each other.

As we face environmental stresses and extreme violence that threaten our peace and prosperity, it is more important than ever to release those outdated and limiting assumptions and embrace the reality of humanity's inherent commitment to our community. Let’s redesign our industrial systems for sustainability and our governance systems for workability.

OnTrackNorthAmerica convenes stakeholders in productive dialogue using our question-based dialogue method, IntelliSynthesis®. Questions are inherently interactive, opening our minds to intelligent thought exploration and shared knowledge. Tracking and utilizing this collective intelligence allow diverse stakeholders to solve problems and implement action plans.

Our work is informed by close interactions with over 11,000 individuals across the continent who have overwhelmingly expressed their heartfelt desire for a world that works for everyone. As Darwin discovered more than 175 years ago, society advances when people balance useful competition with essential collaboration.