The things that get better when shared

On a Friday evening in a park in Al Ain, two things happen at the same time.

The parking near the gate fills up early. Every family that arrives makes it a little worse for the next one. A space taken is a space gone.

On the grass beyond it, a few men have strung a badminton net between two trees. Two players is a game. Six is a tournament. By the time the light goes, there are strangers waiting their turn, and the evening is better for every one of them.

Almost everything a business owns falls on one side of that line or the other.

A launch discount is like the parking. The more widely it travels, the less it is worth, and the people who find it late feel they arrived after the party. A limited batch, a quiet supplier, a slot in a busy week: these get used up.

But a skill gets sharper the more often it is used. A name gets stronger the more people repeat it. A way of explaining your product improves every time you say it to someone new and watch their face. A group of customers who talk to each other becomes more valuable with each person who joins.

The mistake is treating the second kind as if it were the first. Guarding the know-how. Keeping the method secret. Saving the good work for a better occasion.

Things that wear out deserve to be rationed. Things that grow with use deserve to be used, often and in public, by as many people as will take part.