ON WINNING TOGETHER

Many of Us Don’t Know How to Win Together (& Why We’ve Got to Realize This): I once scored low on competitiveness in a recruitment personality test. When asked why, I explained how the questions measured competitiveness on my interest in winning alone.

I got the job, developed my role, built a new business area and a socalled growth engine. Won. Together.

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A 2023 Gallup poll found 40% of employees globally felt their teams struggled with collaboration. This isn’t just a workplace issue—it’s a glimpse into global societal dynamics. Many of us don’t know how to win together. That's holding us back.

To help us think about global societal dynamics, I’ll talk about incentive systems and game theory, two useful concepts to think with. Here’s a quick bite of each, but warmest recommendations to rabbit hole for yourself:

• 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬: These are the rewards and punishments that shape what we do—like paychecks for work or prison for crime. When they’re off, say favoring the loudest voice over reason, we stumble.

• 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲: This is about strategic choices—how we act when our wins depend on others’ moves. Picture a card game: splitting the winnings beats going broke, but only if everyone trusts the deal. It’s a skill—takes trust and strategy. Some master it; many don’t.

You see it everywhere: thriving startups hum with community, while fractured populations—divided by media click bait—fall apart. Collaboration isn’t automatic; it’s unevenly spread.

Here’s the thing: poorly designed incentive systems hit a limit. They need to match game theory—reward us for winning together. If the incentive systems work against the greatest players, they can’t keep going. Imagine a game where the truly best teammates are punished for aiming to win together.

Global society’s no different. We need incentives that support shared wins— agreements that lift all sides, not just the loudest. The great players who get this? They’ve got to stay in the game. If they fall, no one’s lifting the rest up.

And here’s why we’ve got to realize this:

Too many assume people pushing growth or bold ideas are selfish or wrong. But resilient growth and meaningful innovation means more for more of us using resources more effectively. Resilient growth and meaningful innovation keep great players in the game, giving us all more time to develop. Take tax flows from private companies and their employees — they fund things we all need. The truly greatest players aren’t trying to win alone; they work to keep standing so they can lift others. If we don’t realize that, we misjudge each other and build systems that fail.

Many of us don’t know how to win together. And that’s okay—skills vary. But building a world assuming that we all actually know won’t hold. Incentive systems can guide behaviour towards winning together. Time to check up on our assumptions and design well, so that we win together - before we’re stuck losing alone.

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𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥. 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 - 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 - 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.