McCombs TODAY

Is our society overly competitive and adversarial? On his Macroeconomics Updates blog, McCombs economist Michael Brandl writes about the dangers of taking on an “Us vs. Them” mentality, whether in sports, business or politics:

We seem to have a growing intolerance of those we consider not to be “us.” And it seems who we define as “us” is getting more narrow and more extreme.

Here is what I mean: in policymaking it used to be that Republicans and Democrats would debate, argue and reach some type of compromise. In business, firms would compete in many markets but would also co-operate with each other in other settings.

But we see this less and less now it seems. Democrats refuse to consult Republicans in the drafting of legislation. Republican talk show hosts wish for the collapse of the economy simply because the Democrats are in power. Management sees it as their responsibility to destroy the competition at every turn.

He goes on to say:

This is dangerous.

We learn from people who are different from us and think differently than us. By talking to those who think differently than we do we broaden our insight and sometimes we even change our minds.

Great leaders don’t tell us what to think, they teach us how to think. This is true in policymaking, in leading businesses and in raising & educating our young.