Why shared self interest holds a coalition together
Launch library · evergreen read
Coalitions built purely on shared values can be fragile, since values are easy to agree with in principle but harder to translate into sustained joint effort when priorities inevitably start to diverge under real, sustained pressure over time. Agreement in principle rarely survives real, sustained pressure intact.
Coalitions built on shared self interest, where each partner has something concrete to gain from a specific shared outcome, tend to hold together more reliably, since each partner has a clear, practical reason to keep showing up beyond simple goodwill alone, month after month. Self interest, named honestly, is a durable kind of glue.
The strongest coalitions often combine both, genuine shared values that provide the motivation, alongside a clear sense of what each partner concretely gains, which gives the coalition both the will and the practical reason to stay together through real disagreement. Motivation and incentive, together, prove considerably harder to break apart.