Why to never compete with your partners.

When you partner with someone for their expertise, don’t start competing with them.  It defeats the whole point of the partnership, and wastes everyone's time, attention and resources. 

Because once the spark of competition is lit, the game shifts to one-upmanship, not collaboration. That puts off people who are really good at what they do. They aren’t motivated to bring in their best game. 

Being competitive is a default state for many people. They believe it is the source of their success, though often it only makes them “feel in control”, irrespective of real results. 

Collaboration with partners - internal or external -  needs a suspension of competition.  You don’t have to be right or know more about everything. That’s the whole point of bringing in experts. They know more, they’ll help you decide better.

All partnerships succeed (or not) on a simple choice: do you want your business goals to be met, or would you rather gratify your ego?