From Crisis to Coopetition: What Leaders Can Learn From Anesthesiologists

Informed i’s Weekly Business Insights

Extractive summaries and key takeaways from the articles carefully curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Since 2017 |  Week 432, covering December 19-25, 2025 | Archive

From Crisis to Coopetition: What Leaders Can Learn From Anesthesiologists

By Halle Tecco | MIT Sloan Management Review | December 22, 2025

3 key take aways from the article

1. In 1982, millions of Americans tuned in to the ABC news program 20/20 to watch an exposé that shook the medical world to its core. The segment, titled “The Deep Sleep: 6,000 Will Die or Suffer Brain Damage,” told harrowing stories of patients harmed by anesthesia errors.  For anesthesiologists, the situation posed an existential crisis. And they did something radical: They opened up.
2. The anesthesiologists’ playbook offers lessons for leaders in other industries. Their success came not from isolated breakthroughs but from collective action. Consider five practices to turn competitors into collaborators and transform fragmented industries into engines of progress.  Study failures collectively. Create neutral ground.  Set shared standards.  Ensure interoperability.  And pool resources strategically.
3. The lesson from the anesthesiologists’ story is clear: Transparency and collaboration turn existential crises into opportunities for reinvention. The question for leaders is simple: What walls can you dismantle, and what bridges can you build?

Full Article

(Copyright lies with the publisher)

Topics:  Leadership, Crisis Management, Coopetition

Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen

In 1982, millions of Americans tuned in to the ABC news program 20/20 to watch an exposé that shook the medical world to its core. The segment, titled “The Deep Sleep: 6,000 Will Die or Suffer Brain Damage,” told harrowing stories of patients harmed by anesthesia errors.

For anesthesiologists, the situation posed an existential crisis. The profession’s credibility was at stake, malpractice suits were mounting, and patients had lost trust. The doctors could have circled the wagons, deflected blame, and worked in silos to protect their reputations. But instead, they did something radical: They opened up.

The dynamics anesthesiologists confronted — fragmented stakeholders, reputational risk, and misaligned incentives — are familiar to leaders in every sector. Today’s businesses are navigating crises of trust, ranging from data privacy scandals in the tech sector to accusations of greenwashing in the consumer goods industry. They’re facing rising regulatory scrutiny, global supply chain vulnerabilities, and rapid technological change. No organization can solve these problems alone. Yet the dominant instinct to compete narrowly — protecting data, building walled gardens, and optimizing for market share rather than collective progress — remains.

One way forward is to instead embrace coopetition, the idea that competitors can sometimes achieve more together than they can separately. Coined by software entrepreneur Ray Noorda in the 1980s, the term describes situations where rivals collaborate to create value that none could realize on its own. 

The anesthesiologists’ playbook offers lessons for leaders in other industries. Their success came not from isolated breakthroughs but from collective action. Consider five practices to turn competitors into collaborators and transform fragmented industries into engines of progress.

1. Study failures collectively. The Closed Claims Project turned malpractice lawsuits into learning opportunities. Likewise, airlines’ open reporting systems transformed aviation safety. In the tech sector, cybersecurity companies share threat intelligence to protect users from attacks that could compromise the entire industry. Is your industry coming together to study failures?
2. Create neutral ground. The APSF provided a trusted, independent platform where competitors could come together to address common challenges. Many industries need neutral tables — foundations, nonprofits, or joint ventures — where rivals can convene to solve systemic problems.
3. Set shared standards. Competing businesses often build proprietary protocols that fragment markets. By agreeing on standards, industries can reduce friction for consumers, grow adoption, and accelerate innovation. 
4. Ensure interoperability. Customers shouldn’t experience fractured service because systems don’t connect. Competitors that align on interoperability create better experiences and expand usage of their products or services. 
5. Pool resources strategically. Some challenges are better tackled together, like building shared infrastructure, funding research, or lobbying for policy change. 

Of course, these strategies don’t eliminate competition. Companies will still battle for contracts, customers, and market share. But they establish a baseline of collaboration that allows the whole sector to advance.

The lesson from the anesthesiologists’ story is clear: Transparency and collaboration turn existential crises into opportunities for reinvention. The question for leaders is simple: What walls can you dismantle, and what bridges can you build?