Of cooperation and excellence

One of the most influential books on the idea of "cooperative sports" is now available online, for free, thanks to the Google Books project. It's conveniently called "Cooperative Games and Sports."

The book was written by one of the most influential proponents of cooperation, Terry Orlick. If you click on his name, expecting to catch up on his most recent cooperative thoughts, you'd discover that for quite some time Terry has been following something that seems a very different path - the idea of excellence.

Excellence. Which makes me think of Tom Peters and Robert Waterman's landmark book In Search of Excellence. Which is a business book. And business, as we all know, has at least as much to do with competition as it does cooperation. And coincidentally(?) Orlick's most recent lliterary landmark, now in it's fourth edition, is a book called "In Pursuit of Excellence."

What's the connection? Why would a champion of cooperation turn his attention to what in many ways is a central focus of competition?

The more I think about it, the deeper the question, and the richer the connection seems. It led me to such a fascinating contemplation that I decided, rather than sharing my conclusions with you, I'd better serve our shared interests by giving you the opportunity, and encouragement, to draw conclusions for yourself.

And while you're at it - what about the "fun" connection? Is that still part of the cooperation-excellence equation?


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith