Monday, February 27, 2017

Why is competition so much more compelling than cooperation?

Why is it that competition can feel more fun than cooperation? When I lead team building events, no matter the group -- teams always get more excited when they get to compete against other teams. Some really struggle when I try to coax them (or trick them!) to cooperate in an activity.

I know that Dr. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's research confirms that boredom is painful and the "flow state" comes from meeting challenges and growing from them. Is this the reason?

Today I wondered: could we change the nature of challenge and competition in our culture? What if our measure of success had less to do with $$ and more to do with how well we serve each other?

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