For most of my career, I believe this myth: Great leaders go it alone.

I also believed other lies, such as:

• • Being the smartest guy in the room was the key to scaling.

• • Asking for help meant you weren’t cut out for the pressure.
    
    
    

Back in 2010, my business was up against a giant: a software vendor that was undercutting us in the very services we’d been to deliver. They were our supplier and our competitor. Our margins were being squeezed, our contracts were at risk, and I was burning out trying to solve it solo.

Out of desperation, I came up with a crazy idea.

What if I built a coalition with my competitors?

 

I reached out to other businesses in the same space. We were normally rivals. But we shared the same pain point. And surprisingly, we were all open to a conversation.

What started as a venting session became a focused, unified front.
Together, we confronted the software vendor.
Together, we negotiated.

And together, we succeeded. We got them to exit the consulting business altogether.

 

That one move opened a vacuum in the market that all of us were ready to fill.

Instead of competing over scraps, we grew the pie and our profits.

That experience changed me forever.

It shattered the lie that “real leaders don’t need help.”

And it showed me something most entrepreneurs miss:

Community isn’t a luxury. It’s a strategy.

Since then, I’ve made building community a business priority — with peers, clients, and even past competitors. It’s helped me grow faster, make better decisions, and stay sane during the hardest seasons.

If you’re a business owner, this is the question you need to ask yourself:

• • Where in your business are you trying to be the hero when you need a coalition?

• • What doors would open if you linked arms with others instead of competing in silence?

• • If you stopped viewing everyone else as a threat, who could you learn from?
    
    
    

Entrepreneurs are often brilliant at building products and terrible at building community.

I want to help other people see what I didn’t see before they hit the same wall.

Going it alone isn’t bold. It’s just inefficient.

Building community doesn’t just feel good. It works.

Written by: Wade Wyant

Red Wagon Advisors, West Michigan Scaling Up Coach