For a long time, I worked for a company where the mentality was simple: it’s us or them. Competitors were to be kept at arm’s length, and collaboration outside our own four walls was viewed with suspicion. It wasn’t until I moved on that I saw the bigger picture and it was eye-opening. Suddenly, I found myself in conversations with the very people we’d labelled as “the competition.” To my surprise, these so-called rivals were not only approachable, they were often working together, passing projects back and forth, and openly sharing insights. The walls I thought existed were, in reality, much more porous.