Co-opetition: the “Lennon-McCartney” method for excellence

Lawyers are trained to compete against each other. Their individual training as a professional in law school makes them rely upon their individual forces to develop and succeed in their careers. Any cooperation with other lawyers is circumstantial and lasts as long as such cooperation in beneficial for his/her own development. I don´t make this description in a negative way. It is just the way we are trained to operate.
But partners in law firms (some of them) have realized that they need to limit this instinctive approach of lawyers in order to allow for a more collaborative and productive performance; and this need has become more and more acute in the modern market. So for that purpose, they establish rules and systems (specially compensation) whereby the individual instincts are kept at bay, and significant efforts are made to develop cultures where the “egos” are considered negative and toxic. According to these standpoints, competition should always be outside the firm, never inside. But is this really true?

I am a huge fun of The Beatles. Not only of their fantastic musical production, but also as an incredible artistic organization. One of the most fascinating features of the Beatles´ history is the song-writing creative partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. All the stories describing their relationship and composition dynamics (and believe me, I read them all) describe with great clarity how they cooperate and compete intesely at the same time, in order to achieve the levels of excellence that transform them in the most important rock and pop group of modern times. In each of them co-existed two intense feelings: (i) great ambition to become a star musician and create great music, and (ii) a deep respect and admiration for the talent of the other. So although each one was well aware of their own talent as musician, they also understood that cooperation with the other would always improve the quality of their music. So during the days when their relationship was unharmed, there was no song created by any of them that would not be previously submitted to the opinion and recommendations of the other. But that willingness to cooperate was not at the expense of competition. When in 1964 Paul composed “Can´t Buy Me Love” and was going to become the big hit in the next album they were working on, Lennon became very upset so he composed “A Hard Day´s Night” which also became a big hit and actually gave the name to the album. Pretty cool, uh?

When I was writing my thesis for my Master in Organizational Studies I came across a body of research and theory that has developed around the concept of “co-opetition”, which is a term that intends to merge cooperation (or collaboration, if you prefer) and competition. Under this theory, there are circumstances where you need both forces to act together to achieve some desired results. Normally we would tend to see them as opposites in contradiction. You either compete or collaborate. However, the best lawyers I have seen are always competing, against the market, their colleagues and themselves. In those cases where this competition acquires a pure “egotistical” nature, talented lawyers last for a while, make some money, but tend to be outweighted at some point by other talented lawyers coming behind, and finally loose relevance. But in those other cases where talented lawyers are wise enough to detect the talent of other colleagues and are able to partner with them in order to obtain better results, then you could see the seeds of a great law firm. And don´t think that these more visionary talents avoid competition with their fellow members in the firm; they will no accept to stay low or in irrelevant positions. They will still need to be recognized as individuals. But their wisdom result from realizing, like John and Paul, that many of the best things we can do will result from a collective effort with other talented lawyers.

Many people think (and I maybe among them) that John and Paul have not been able to produce the same level of music after The Beatles. There was some special chemistry that worked when they composed together. In my mind, the co-opetion factor was essential in this process since it pushed both musicians to their maximum levels of creativity and excellence.. I have heard Paul saying more than once that he has always missed John as a composing partner. Make sure that all of you do not loose the opportunity to work in co-opetition with the talents in your firm (and have your lawyers in your firm do the same). I can assure you that you will not regret the experience nor the results you will achieve.