Importance of Collaboration

Part 2: 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀: 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (Part 1: see https://lnkd.in/eNP8ih5Y) (Part 3: see https://lnkd.in/eYAnkeVS) Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework has shaped how managers and academics analyze industries. It remains an elegant way to map the external environment at the industry level. Porter’s view of strategy, however, was forged in an era when industries were stable, boundaries were clear, and competitive advantage was largely internal. The external environment was portrayed as hostile: every force around the firm—suppliers, buyers, new entrants, rivals, and substitutes—was a potential threat to profitability. Strategy was about defending margins, erecting barriers, and capturing value. But today’s reality is far more fluid. Industries blend into one another, technologies converge, and value is co-created across networks. The same actors that once appeared only as adversaries have become indispensable partners for innovation, agility, and growth. Competitors may share platforms; suppliers co-develop technologies; customers co-create solutions; and substitutes may reveal entirely new markets. If we look at the business world through this new lens, Porter’s five “forces” can also be five “sources” of advantage. Collaboration doesn’t replace competition—it complements it. The real challenge for managers is to find the balance point along a continuum that runs from pure competition to deep collaboration. * Competitors remain rivals, but also potential partners in standard-setting, data sharing, or open-source development. * New entrants are disruptors, but also agile innovators with whom incumbents can partner, invest, or co-develop. * Suppliers can squeeze margins—but when engaged early in design, they become co-innovators. Toyota’s keiretsu model and Unilever’s annual innovation summits with strategic suppliers both show how collaboration can yield efficiency and renewal. * Customers may demand more, but their insights and data now drive innovation. Co-creation platforms—from LEGO Ideas to Tesla’s user forums—turn buyers into creative partners. * Substitutes, once seen only as threats, can signal new opportunities. Netflix, for instance, transformed from a DVD substitute to a platform that redefined how entertainment is consumed. The comparative table below contrasts Porter’s competitive interpretation of each force with a collaborative perspective—a framework better suited when success depends as much on connection as on protection. #Strategy #Innovation #Ecosystems #Collaboration #OpenInnovation #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #BusinessStrategy #MichaelPorter #BlueOceanStrategy #Coopetition #Agility #ValueCreation #Management

Stakeholder Engagement Map for Sustainability 🌎 Sustainability advances when companies move from speaking to stakeholders toward building solutions with them. Engagement becomes powerful when it shifts from information-sharing to participation and co-creation. Employees are not passive recipients of corporate policies. When positioned as innovators and ambassadors, they can drive cultural change that scales faster than top-down initiatives. Investors increasingly evaluate not only financial returns but also resilience and impact. Open dialogue and credible disclosures create the foundation for financing models that reward long-term value creation. Regulators and policymakers shape the boundaries of what is possible. Proactive collaboration ensures that emerging rules both protect society and enable business innovation. NGOs and civil society connect business with pressing social and environmental realities. Partnerships with them help translate global challenges into concrete, measurable corporate actions. Customers bring more than purchasing power. Through collaboration and product co-design, they accelerate the adoption of sustainable solutions and redefine what markets demand. Suppliers and partners extend responsibility beyond a single enterprise. Joint innovation in sourcing, standards, and technology transforms sustainability into a shared endeavor across the value chain. Communities ground sustainability in place. When businesses co-invest in local development, they secure trust and create ecosystems that benefit both society and the enterprise. Media and opinion leaders influence how actions are perceived. Transparent storytelling backed by evidence strengthens legitimacy and reinforces accountability. Academia and experts contribute the critical lens of science and independent validation. Engaging them ensures that strategies are rooted in knowledge, not convenience. Risk and resilience demand collective approaches. Working groups and cross-sector alliances elevate sustainability from individual commitments to systemic impact. True engagement means entering a space of shared design. It is in these interactions that sustainability moves from compliance to transformation, and from promises to outcomes. #sustainability #business #sustainable #esg

Today’s biggest industrial challenges are too complex, too interconnected, and too urgent for any organization to solve alone.     Industrial leaders today are navigating mounting pressure - fragile supply chains, accelerating decarbonization targets, and the need to scale digital transformation at speed. In this context, collaboration is no longer a “nice to have”; it is becoming a defining factor of long-term competitiveness and resilience.     My new piece for the World Economic Forum explores why cooperation across industries, value chains, and public-private ecosystems is now critical.     From unlocking innovation and strengthening supply chains, to accelerating climate action through digitalization and electrification, collaboration with the right energy technology partners and organizations is proving essential to turn ambition into impact.     👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e3gm2aZv 

Agent to Agent communication between software will be the biggest unlock of AI. Right now most AI products are limited to what they know, what they index from other systems in a clunky way, or what existing APIs they interact with. The future will be systems that can talk to each other via their Agents. A Salesforce Agent will pull data from a Box Agent, a ServiceNow Agent will orchestrate a workflow between Agents from different SaaS products. And so on. We know that any given AI system can only know so much about any given topic. The proprietary data most for most tasks or workflows is often housed in many multiple apps that one AI Agent needs access to. Today, the de facto model of software integrations in AI is one primary AI Agent interacting with the APIs of another system. This is a great model, and we will see 1,000X growth of API usage like this in the future. But it also means the agentic logic is assumed to all roll into the first system. This runs into challenges when the second system can deliver a far wider range of processing the request than the first Agent can anticipate. This is where Agent to Agent communication comes in. One Agent will do a handshake with another Agent and ask that Agent to complete whatever tasks it’s looking for. That second Agent goes off and does some busy work in its system and then returns with a response to the first system. That first agent then synthesizes the answers and data as appropriate for the task it was trying to accomplish. Unsurprisingly, this is how work already happens today in an analog format. Now, as an industry, we have plenty to work out of course. Firstly, we need better understanding of what any given Agent is capable of and what kind of tasks you can send to it. Latency will also be a huge challenge, as one request from the primary AI Agent will fan out to other Agents, and you will wait on those other systems to process their agentic workflows (over time this just gets solved with cheaper and faster AI). And we also have to figure out seamless auth between Agents and other ways of communicating on behalf of the user. Solving this is going to lead to an incredible amount of growth of AI Agents in the future. We’re working on this right now at Box with many partners, and excited to keep sharing how it all comes evolves.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭    Business thrives when communities thrive. I was deeply moved by Jumbo supermarkets' innovative "Kletskassa" (chat checkout) initiative in the Netherlands. Instead of rushing customers through checkout, these special lanes encourage conversation and connection for people who want a slower retail experience.   "Many people, the elderly in particular, can feel lonely. As a family business and supermarket chain we have a central role in society. Our shops are a meeting place and that means we can do something to combat loneliness. The Kletskassa is just one of the things we can do,’ Jumbo CCO Colette Cloosterman-Van Eerd said.   It's a brilliant example of how businesses can weave social impact into their core operations. The reality is stark. According to the Dentsu 2025 Trend Report, the world is facing a global "togetherness deficit." Recent global events have left many feeling disconnected – particularly our elderly population. But herein lies an opportunity for businesses to step up:   1. Reimagine existing touchpoints: Every customer interaction can be transformed into a moment of connection. What's your equivalent of a "chat checkout"?   2. Create dedicated community spaces: Jumbo's "chat corners" show how businesses can repurpose physical spaces to nurture belonging.   3. Train staff as community builders: Our team members can be more than service providers – they can be connection catalysts.   4. Identify local needs: Understanding your community's specific challenges helps create meaningful interventions.   The ROI? It goes beyond metrics. It's in the strengthened community fabric. It's in being part of the solution to societal challenges. I believe every business, regardless of size or sector, has the potential to create impact in a way that people feel seen, heard, and connected.      

Collaboration is key to scaling climate action in food systems - no single organization or country can do it alone.   Governments, business, financial institutions and civil society must work together, towards a common set of clear objectives, to strengthen the global food system in the face of increasing climate pressures, soil degradation, water scarcity and extreme weather events. The world must also realize that farmers and farming communities are essential partners in building resilience and sustainability, and that any systemic change starts with them. These things are easy to say, but we know from our experience that they, unfortunately, don’t always happen “on the ground”.   As we prepare for #WEF26 in Davos, Switzerland next week, I co-authored this article (see link below) for World Economic Forum with Mónica Andrés Enríquez on how partnerships that focus on supporting farmers can help decarbonize food value chains, while safeguarding yields and supply chain resilience.   PepsiCo and Yara International collaborate to work directly with farmers, helping them scale regenerative agriculture practices through low-carbon fertilizers, soil diagnostics and data-driven nutrient management – all in an effort to make the global food system more resilient so that farmers can keep farming, businesses like ours can continue to grow and the world has the supply and resources it needs to feed a growing population. Check out our article: https://lnkd.in/ejYEk5Pw

80% of startup co-founder relationships fail within the first 3 years. But it's rarely about skills. Most founders pick cofounders based on technical abilities - the best engineer, the smartest salesperson, or the most experienced operator. Big mistake. Because in a startup, it's not skills that break teams - it's misalignment. Here's the truth: ▶︎ 1. Skills won't save you when things go sideways Every startup hits a wall. And in those moments, it's not your CTO's tech stack that matters - it's whether they take accountability or point fingers. ▶︎ 2. Misaligned values create silent resentment I've seen cofounders fight over small decisions. Not because of the decisions - but because one cared about impact, the other cared about money. That difference doesn't show up in pitch meetings. It shows up in year 2, when one wants to raise, and the other wants to exit. ▶︎ 3. Communication styles make or break momentum One founder I worked with made every decision via Slack. His cofounder wanted to talk through everything in person. Same vision. Same goals. Total friction. Startups die from miscommunication, not market failure. ▶︎ 4. Habits matter more than resumes Early bird vs. night owl. Builder vs. brainstormer. Chaos vs. structure. None of these are wrong - until they collide in a 14-hour sprint to get a demo ready. ▶︎ 5. Vision drift is real - and dangerous Your cofounder isn't just helping you build a product. They're helping you build your life. If you don't agree on what that life looks like, you're heading toward a split. So yes, skills are important. But when I work with early-stage founders, I always say: Pick someone you can survive hard days with. Because those are the days that actually test your company. What's one non-negotiable you'd look for in a cofounder - beyond skills? #entrepreneurship #startup #funding

Multi-agent systems need a common language. Without one, every agent-to-agent connection becomes custom glue code that is difficult to scale, secure, and maintain. That is the problem A2A solves. → 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 Agents use an Agent Card to advertise their identity, skills, endpoints, and constraints. → 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Agents exchange structured requests, updates, files, metadata, and results. → 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 One agent can delegate work to another, track progress, and receive partial or final outputs. → 𝗧𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 A2A tracks progress, intermediate results, failures, and completion across long-running tasks. → 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 HTTP is the common reference pattern, while gRPC, NATS, or MQTT may fit internal or event-driven environments. → 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 Identity, authorization, message integrity, and observability become essential when agents act across organizational boundaries. A2A is not just another messaging layer. It is an interoperability foundation that helps agents discover each other, coordinate work, and operate across vendors, frameworks, and platforms. MCP connects agents to tools. A2A connects agents to agents. Which part of A2A matters most for your multi-agent architecture?

How can designers create solutions that ripple through entire communities? Imagine a park bench. It’s a simple design, right? But what if that bench, originally intended to provide a place for rest, became part of a much larger system designed to promote healthy lifestyles in a city? Now, it’s not just a bench—it’s part of a network of walking paths, bike lanes, and shared green spaces that encourage social interaction and well-being. This shift in thinking is exactly what the Social Design Pathways matrix helps us achieve. Created by the Winterhouse Institute, the Social Design Pathways matrix pushes us to think beyond isolated solutions. It challenges designers to collaborate across disciplines, scale up their impact, and work with a wide range of stakeholders—from community members to city planners. For example, when a team of designers, landscape architects, and social workers come together, they’re not just designing a park—they’re helping to reimagine how a city supports the health and social needs of its residents. The beauty of this approach is that it encourages designers to step out of their comfort zones. The more diverse the collaboration, the bigger the potential for change. And these aren’t just theoretical ideas. According to the World Health Organization, cities that prioritize active transportation systems, such as bike lanes and pedestrian paths, report significant improvements in public health and reduced environmental impact. The ripple effect is real. By using tools like the Social Design Pathways matrix, designers can clarify their intentions, collaborate effectively, and ultimately create holistic solutions that address complex social challenges. It’s not just about designing objects—it’s about designing systems that foster long-term, sustainable change. What design project are you currently working on that could benefit from this kind of collaborative, big-picture thinking? #SocialDesign #CommunityImpact #SustainableDesign #DesignForChange #Collaboration

Collective impact is becoming an increasingly important force to harness. But it’s far less clear how to achieve it. That’s why this Collective Impact Toolkit from the Tamarack Institute is such a valuable resource. It distils over twenty years of community change practice into practical tools, guiding frameworks, and step-by-step approaches for turning collaboration into results. Key insights: 1️⃣ Readiness matters. “There’s no collaboration without readiness.” Tamarack highlights the importance of assessing local context, leadership capacity, and shared urgency before launching any initiative. Impact builds from alignment. 2️⃣ The five conditions still hold true. A common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and backbone support remain the foundation of effective collaboration. 3️⃣ Pre-conditions shape success. Influential champions, adequate resourcing, and a genuine sense of urgency for change are essential starting points. Without them, collaboration can stall before it begins. 4️⃣ Trust and values are the glue. “Authentic community change moves at the speed of trust.” The toolkit provides concrete exercises for establishing shared principles and navigating differences constructively. This is one of the clearest, most practical resources I’ve seen on building collaborative capacity for systems change, turning intent into coordinated action. 📘 The Collective Impact Toolkit — Tamarack Institute (2022)