The best way for a society to prepare its young people for leadership in government, industry, or other fields is by instilling in them a sense of cooperation, not competition.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree

Ancient humanity abided by one rule: survival of the fittest. In modern times, however, the value of cooperation, in addition to competition, is becoming increasingly realized. But can the value of cooperation ever completely supplant the role of competition, especially when we consider as a society the preparing of young people to be leaders of tomorrow? While it is true that cooperation is an indispensible skill towards leadership in government, industry, or other fields, at the same time a healthy awareness of competition is also necessary in order for one to successfully lead in these same areas.

On the one hand, the value of cooperation cannot be overlooked in leadership, especially in terms of the ability of one to make compromises. Many of the most effective leaders in history have been adept compromisers and negotiators. Consider Abraham Lincoln, for instance. While often regarded as today as having taken a hard line towards slavery, he was notable in his day for the extraordinary lengths to which he went in order to hold the union together. Lincoln famously had to negotiate on issues of state's rights and slavery with the state of Kentucky in order to keep it from seceding too, and in doing so had to sacrifice some of his own ideals in order to maintain unity. In this way, compromise and cooperation surely has its roles in effective leadership, and indeed the same can be said of leadership in industry as well (the negotiation of management with workers on employment contracts is a prime example). But is cooperation the only valuable skill required to be an effective leader?

Upon further analysis, we observe that a sense of competition is indispensible towards graduating to a place of leadership in the first place. The entire concept of a democratic government is based on competition, where various politicians, each with their own policy platforms, must compete for the votes of constituents in order to ascend to a place of power. One only needs to tune into the news during an election year to become aware of this point. Even at the current moment, Democratic party is hosting its highly competitive primary debates in order to select a candidate to nominate for the presidential election. In order for any of the candidates - Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, or a complete raft of others - to come to the position of commander in chief, he or she must be able to effectively advertise his or her policies on immigration, gun control, health care, and more, in order to convince voters to vote for them in the primary election. Even in industry, which is not always built on the same electoral principle, competition is still necessary in order to advance to a leadership position. Only a finite number of managerial positions are generally available to a company at any given time. Thus, in order for an employee to earn that much-desired promotion, he or she must be have a highly competitive resume, be able to work harder than colleagues, and be able to attract the knowledge of his or her superiors. Hence, in both government and industry, the ability to compete against colleagues is vital towards securing a position of leadership and cannot be disregarded when we consider how to instruct the next generation.

Furthermore, the constant awareness of competition within the framework of government or industry is necessary for one to be an effective leader once the leadership role has been attained. In industry, the capitalist free market drives the bulk of leadership decisions made by the high management. For instance, a great many of the decisions made by the CEO of Microsoft will be concerned with how to compete with Apple. If Microsoft is ineffective at successfully advertising to consumers about why its products are better than Apple, in addition to making quality products, it is highly likely that the company could lose valuable customers who switch to Apple instead. Hence, in a position of leadership, many industry associates must be constantly aware of their competition. The same can be said of those in a governmental leadership position. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi must unite her party behind legislative bills and in doing so be able to compete against the minority party in order to enact legislation. If she does not ascend to a position of dominance and competition, it is highly possible that the Republicans can take up the floor with their own legislative measures that detract from the Democratic agenda. Hence, even in governance, the ability to successfully compete, or advance one's own interests at the expense of others, is required in order to successfully enact the important legislation desired by constituents.

Altogether, we have observed that while the importance of cooperation and compromise cannot be neglected in either government or industry, at the same time these high ideals cannot completely supplant the importance of competition, or advancing one's own agenda at the expense of others. Competition is indeed crucial in both ascending to leadership positions, and in leading properly to achieve the desired effects. Hence, the next generation must be instilled with senses of both cooperation and competition.