Coopertition: How to make competition work for you, and your clients

Business professionals often assume that the key to success is beating the competition. We run ourselves ragged attempting to do it all, trying to be the best, to know the most, and to meet our clients’ every need so we don’t lose them to our perceived rivals.

As a lawyer for over 25 years and business owner, I have been down that road more times than I care to admit and I can tell you where it leads: to exhaustion. But I have also learned there is a better way to manage the pressures of competition. It’s far less taxing and produces much better results for your clients and you. I call this strategy Coopertition.

Pronounced co-op-er-tition, the word is a combination of competition and cooperation. In practice, it means cooperation between competitors for the benefit of all. Instead of regarding your competitors as rivals, figure out how their skillset and knowledge can be helpful to you and your clients, and vice versa. We can never be all things to all people, no matter how good we are at our jobs. There will always be requests that fall slightly outside our field of expertise, new work we don’t have time for, questions we need help answering, or conflicts of interest which prohibit you from taking on a certain matter. By leaning on other professionals and collaborating when it makes sense, we avoid needless acrimony with our competitors, and turbocharge our ability to truly meet the needs of those we serve.

Staying ahead of the competition requires rethinking the concept of competition itself. We must think bigger and differently, finding ways to make love – not war – with our enemies, thereby better serving our customers and winning the game in novel ways that once seemed unthinkable.

Here are a few examples of Coopertition in action:

Once upon a time, my client Joe needed help structuring a complicated transaction. This matter required a deep knowledge not only of mergers and acquisitions but also tax law, employment law, and a myriad of other subspecialities. I have expertise in many areas of business transactional law, but this particular one was way too complicated for me to tackle on my own. I knew that it was incumbent upon me, if I didn’t have all the answers, to enlist those who did. I call this being my client’s adviser, or consiglieri.

Just like being the quarterback on a football team, a consiglieri calls the plays, but also needs to pass the ball in order to move it down the field. In this case, I had my best players (attorneys from my firm) in place, but I needed to call on a “special teams” teammate to get the deal into the end zone for 6. So I called on a strict mergers and acquisitions attorney from a rival firm who knew exactly what it would take to make the transaction viable. By putting aside our rivalry for this one “game,” my firm and this attorney were able to serve our mutual client, Joe, in ways that wouldn’t have been feasible without each other’s assistance.

More recently, during my Tuesday night ladies’ group meeting, my friend Donna mentioned she’d been spending more time reading as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and she especially loved legal thrillers. In fact, she had every John Grisham novel except for his latest, A Time for Mercy. She wanted to pick it up at the bookstore but felt wary about shopping when so many stores at that time were closed for safety. I took notice and bought the book for her online and sent it to her. She was touched that I remembered.

I wasn’t expecting anything in return. All I was doing was filling a need for someone. Donna already knew I was a lawyer. Now she knows I’m also a good listener. And if, down the road, a referral comes up, hopefully she will remember me.

The key takeaway here is to always be on the lookout for others needing assistance. If you listen, you can learn much from a casual conversation, a social media thread, or from a mutual friend. Being of value to others begins with learning their needs.

Another key component of Coopertition is to just be kind. Just as mom, my hero, taught me, hard work alone isn’t enough to get you where you want to go in life. You have heard business mentors say, “Work smarter, rather than harder.” Well, my mom pioneered another concept: “Work kinder.” Despite her busy schedule, my mom seemed to know everyone’s name, even that of the bus driver and the bag boy at our local supermarket. When she interacted with people, she always called them by name, acknowledged them as a person and connected with them on a human level by asking how their day was going. Today, I also use this basic yet crucial technique. It goes a long way toward making my interactions with new people I meet ever more personal, not just professional.

It’s often our personal connections that give us an edge in our careers. People want to do business with people they like. By being the kind of person who brings pleasure to others, who treats others as human beings, who listens, who makes thoughtful gestures, you’ll have way more to offer than just a resume. You can build these connections with your clients, your coworkers and – yes – your competitors. By embracing the spirit of Coopertition, you’ll be creating a stronger business, happier clients, and a better world.

Janice L. Miller, Esq. is the managing partner of Miller Haga Law Group, LLP, a premier law firm based in the Los Angeles area that provides Innovative General Counsel Services® to both privately-held and Fortune 100 companies. Miller is a highly recognized attorney with more than 25 years of legal experience and represents clients in business transactions, real estate leasing, entertainment, intellectual property, licensing, and hospitality. Janice Miller’s new book, Coopertition: Cooperation Between Competitors For the Benefit of All, is available for purchase at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

For more information about Janice L. Miller and Miller Haga Law Group, LLP, visit www. millerhaga.com or call 818-591-4200.