We Americans think independent, not interdependent
With a Little help from our Friends
The 13 Colonies gave the world our Declaration of Independence. Independence is baked into our national psyche. Yet that reflects only part of our collective story. We can easily forget that we may not have been able to cut the cord with our motherland but for the support of France.
Similarly, we glorify Americans who start with nothing but attain greatness through effort and vision, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Nations, people, and companies often think like that—We did it all on our own. Really, most of us need plenty of help making our own progress.
1+1=3
We’re all about our company/us. Yet, we often benefit, sometimes greatly, from outside relationships. Even so, interdependence can be viewed as necessary but unfortunate. It requires us to share with others, which sometimes produces subtle or even hostile resentment. Such (unconscious) feelings point us in the wrong direction—away from potential opportunities. There is another way to see it.
We are rightly focused on our company’s success, protective of our business, and wary of competitors. Still, our companies can be more effective and more profitable in appropriate collaborations, achieving better results for each party than they could secure on their own. From that perspective, we can think of it as additive, not subtractive or that we’re giving up something.
That’s how strong partnerships can be made, suppliers/vendors can be valued, and joint ventures can be fashioned – even if not always warm and cuddly. Our law firm represented a metals recycling company with a strong competitor. Equipment to shred/crush old vehicles was prohibitively expensive for either company. Despite their multi-generational competition, they formed a joint venture to acquire and operate the equipment. Somehow, they worked it out, creating joint success.
Surprise!
We might dismiss a collaborative opportunity we didn’t initiate or anticipate. Professor Sara Hendren was interviewed about “Cultivating an Openness to the Unbidden,” which alerted me to the potential of unbidden business interdependence. In a different context, she points out:
There is a kind of romanticization of interdependence… But I see people kind of hedge and say, ‘Well, as long as you’re choosing the people to be interdependent with.’ And I always think that’s not how it works. And so, the unbidden…
Some of us may have a limited imagination in cooperative business possibilities. I did think the best interdependent business arrangements were “driven by choosing and optimizing.” Maybe she’s right, “that’s not how it works.”
From a personal context, she tells us that we “cannot imagine what it’s like to share life with somebody like Graham, because (we) cannot imagine his gifts.” Might we look closer at which businesses and their leaders have gifts to share with us? Should we be more open to the unbidden?
Giants Joining Hands
Two great and prideful automakers realized they needed each other. In the early 1980s, GM’s Fremont plant was one of the worst-performing plants in the company. The labor force was also considered the worst in the entire auto industry. Absenteeism was over 20%. Line workers were known to sabotage quality to annoy eventual customers. In 1982, GM shut down the factory.
Toyota was facing pressure to start producing vehicles in the U.S. Instead of opening a new plant on their own, Toyota wanted to learn quickly how to transfer and teach their system to American workers. GM knew about Toyota’s production system and thought learning from them could help. A partnership was formed.
They chose to bring the old factory back online. In 1984, the Fremont factory produced its first car in two years. Defects dropped to be one of the best in the country. Absenteeism fell from 20% to 2%. They did this with the same workforce that plagued that plant only a few years earlier.
This is a famous case of how changing mindsets and cultures dramatically changed results with the same workforce and plant. Toyota needed a catch-up platform. GM needed a recovery platform. This is an astounding example of highly unlikely, additive, and successful interdependence.
Little Guys Joining Fingers
We don’t have to be GM and Toyota to create relationships of intertwined value. In The Pinball Theory of Business & Life, I detail some examples of small companies exemplifying what I mean by interdependence.
One situation related to our French partner. As with the commissions, we transferred half of an unexpected freight refund to him. He was amazed. He said he would have never known about that refund and realized he was dealing with genuine partners. Another example happened while developing a company headquarters. Our excellent contractor told me that they had miscalculated the quote for the parking lot. He said it was their fault and we didn’t have to do anything, but they would appreciate our help. “You misquoted, but we would have paid the correct amount. Bill us.”
The goodwill and profits that came from sharing our “windfall” with our French partner and paying our contractor what was due were immeasurable. Both incidents solidified mutual trust, leading to many years of excellent business and profitability. Our export business was entirely interdependent with our foreign partners. Our relationship with our contractor often proved interdependent, too. When our building flooded, they called me before the rain had stopped [I was home, wet, about to call the insurance company] to tell me they were inside our building, saving the walls and taking other emergency steps.
When you grasp the beauty of genuine interdependence, it feels good to take care of each other.
At the end of 2024, Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi announced they intended to spend the first half of 2025 discussing a possible merger. Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said it well. Together, we can create a unique way for (customers) to enjoy cars that neither company could achieve alone.
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Even as we avoid unwise business entanglements, we can consider the multiplying power of solid collaborations that might be available to us—even if unbidden.
