Tuesday, February 11, 2025

The Cooperative Advantage

Don’t let cynical thinking stand in the way of success in the workplace

Jamil Zaki, professor of psychology at Stanford University and author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness, has studied cynicism for years. In a recent article in Harvard Business Review, Zaki points out that “cynics earn less money, report lower job satisfaction, and are less likely to be elevated to leadership positions.

“That’s because success is not the winner-take-all battle that cynics believe it to be. Cynicism, in fact, can bleed workplaces of creativity, openness, and morale, and the bottom line—whereas the people who succeed at work tend to do so by building trusting connections and alliances.”

Zaki says that cynics follow the advice of Niccolo Machiavelli, the 15th century political philosopher best known for his work The Prince, which advocates taking a ruthless approach and stepping over others to achieve success.

“Cynics sacrifice relationships and principle to win,” says Zaki. “Instead, research demonstrates they lose. A wave of new behavioral science has found that, over the course of one’s career, cynical thinking stands in the way of success.”

Research that followed people over time to measure their professional success found that cynics’ salaries grew at a third the rate of noncynics. They were also less likely to be promoted to leadership positions.

Because cynics view getting ahead as a zero-sum game, they go on the offensive to manipulate and dominate others.

“Intimidating coworkers and kissing up to higher-ups tend to build people’s power in the workplace,” says Zaki. “But so do communal actions, such as sharing generously with colleagues.

“Research on disagreeable people who share cynics’ competitive streak finds that they use only dominant strategies to get ahead. This leaves them isolated and eventually puts a ceiling on their success.”

Zaki’s insights into cynicism are also instructive for labour relations. In Canada and the US, labour relations is conducted almost entirely from a cynical point of view, both on the side of labour and management. Each views the other as a competitor and believes that success can be achieved only at the expense of the other.

But as CLAC has shown for over seven decades, adopting a cooperative approach has better long term outcomes for the health of companies and the well-being of their employees. That’s because the short term gain of a cynical approach to labour relations prevents a willingness to give and earn trust, which is essential to the success of the enterprise.

Zaki provides the example of an analysis of narcissism in NBA players’ tweets.

“Teams with higher levels of narcissism won fewer games,” he points out. “Why? To compete at the highest level, teammates must first stop trying to outdo each other. If they hog the ball, narcissistic players cost their teams a cooperative advantage.

“As the NBA champion Bill Bradley put it, ‘the success of the group assures the success of the individual, but not the other way around.’”

This holds true in the labour-management context as well. To function best as a team, workplaces require the cooperative efforts of all players: owners, leaders, and workers and their union representatives.

Unfortunately, the cynical us-versus-them mentality is ingrained in our culture.

“Cynicism has increased steadily over the past 50 years,” says Zaki, “ensnaring many of us in an ironic mental trap. When people believe they must fight their way to the top, they are less likely to get there.

“But leaders have a powerful opportunity to push back against this trend, by creating conditions in which people can express their desire for a more collaborative, positive culture, and see that desire in others. They can bring the cooperative advantage to their communities, and help people win the way most of us want to—together.”

Companies, workers, and unions would do well to heed Zaki’s advice and adopt the cooperative advantage.

The Cooperative Advantage

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