SUMMER 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 89 COMMON GROUND some neighborhoods by teaching the young people conflict resolution skills while at the same time teaching police officers to step out of their cars and have genuine conversations. The goal was to replace stereotypes with understanding and trust and to move from suspicion and mistrust to finding common ground. Over 25 communities have used YPI to build new trust between neighborhoods and local police departments, from Bermuda to the state of Washington. Some outcomes of the program were a decrease in recorded negative interactions between youth and police, a shift in positive community perceptions of the police, and a reduction of neighborhood youth delinquency and violence. Again, this was the result of cooperation within the community. When it comes to the business realm, corporations too can cooperate with one another, leading to advances and progress that would not have been possible in isolation. If we take the very topical example of COVID-19 and vaccine development, cooperation between Pfizer and BioNTech produced the Comirnaty vaccine. Pfizer, an American multinational biotechnology corporation, develops and produces medicines and vaccines for immunology, oncology, endocrinology, and neurology. One of its goals is advancing medical innovation and granting access to medicines that would not otherwise be available to underserved communities. BioNTech, based in Germany, is Europe’s largest privately-held biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of individualized therapies for cancer and other diseases. The company focuses on immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease, combining an understanding of the immune system to treat disease with the cutting-edge technologies and significant infrastructure that has been built up over many years to develop immunotherapy treatments. They are one of the industry leaders in mRNA technology. In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold worldwide, Pfizer partnered with BioNTech to study and develop COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidates. The Pfizer – BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, known as Comirnaty, is an mRNA-based vaccine developed by BioNTech. The two collaborated to support clinical trials, logistics, and manufacturing. In July, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that two of the partners’ four mRNA vaccine candidates had won fast track designation from the FDA. In September, both companies announced that they had completed talks with the European Commission to provide an initial 200 million vaccine doses to the EU with the option to supply another 100 million doses at a later date. This partnership brought together Pfizer’s leadership in vaccines with BioNTech’s expertise in mRNA technology. This cooperation has helped governments around the world protect populations amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. These two examples, across different areas of society, show that significant progress can be achieved when people cooperate — which can be crucial to success. Business leaders who seek to collaborate, whether internally or externally, position themselves to gain a better result. Whether it be the cooperation between Pfizer and BioNTech producing a vaccine that could save hundreds or thousands of lives or whether it’s two businesses that operate in tangential industries coming together to try and create a product or solution to fill a void in the market. A business that seeks to work in isolation and not cooperate is a business that is opening itself up to risk, and it could be left behind. Cooperation allows for a progression of creative ideas to develop that may not have occurred without it. It can lead to innovation and give businesses the edge. Without minds coming together, some innovations wouldn’t have happened, and companies would miss opportunities. Missing out on these opportunities is a risk to a business’s very survival. Cooperation can be a winner for everyone. n Dr. Eileen Borris is a clinical and political psychologist specializing in international conflict resolution. She has helped peace efforts in more than 15 of the world’s most volatile and war-torn countries.
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