2 Min Read

I come back to this phrase a lot in my work around partnership and collaboration: a rising tide lifts all boats.

In a society that seems to value polarization and scarcity more and more, I love this idea because it points to something different — that coordination can produce connection, understanding, and even abundance.

We’ve all seen it in our organizations: one area seems to have everything and isn’t willing to share, while another area struggles. Why does it have to be this way? Too often, we’ve built cultures around scarcity — with indicators and assumptions that reinforce the idea that we simply can’t have it all. That mindset pushes people inward, building walls and protecting their chess pieces instead of sharing them.

But if we share and work together, what might we lose? People? Funding? Credit? That fear keeps us clinging tightly to the status quo.

The truth is, many of us are already fighting against the tide, doing everything we can just to keep our heads above water. What if we didn’t fight it? What if we opened ourselves to change and let the current carry us someplace we couldn’t reach alone? Anyone who has ever sailed knows the boat doesn’t move without the wind.

I was reminded of this watching a reality show about Australian lifeguards on Bondi Beach. Much of their work is rescuing swimmers who get caught in riptides, panic, and exhaust themselves trying to fight against the water. One of the lifeguards started a campaign called “Float to Survive.” His message: don’t battle the rip. Instead, float, control your breathing, conserve your energy, and let the water carry you to a safer place.

It sounds counterintuitive — to just let the water take you. But that’s often what collaboration feels like too. Sharing resources, promoting similar initiatives, working together instead of competing — it can feel risky, even unnatural at first.

But in a world that keeps drifting further apart, there’s real power in offering something different: not scarcity and competition, but partnership and connection. It takes work, yes, but it yields results.

So ask yourself: where in your work or life might you need to let the tide take control — not just for your own sake, but to lift others too?

“As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all the boats. And a partnership, by definition, serves both partners, without domination or unfair advantage. Together we have been partners in adversity — let us also be partners in prosperity.” — John F. Kennedy

Steve