Wow! It’s been quite a week for politics!

Every time I check the BBC website I’m greeted with a new political headline. There’s no escaping it. And I’m not just talking about the UK General Election.

On Sunday, South Africa’s governing ANC party spectacularly lost its parliamentary majority in a landmark moment for the country. Having secured 40% of the vote, the party must now find a coalition partner to govern with, or risk going it alone.

Elsewhere, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi held on to his leadership, for an historic third term, but failed to secure a majority, leaving the BJP at the mercy of its political allies.

And then there’s all the political shenanigans closer to home…

Nigel Farage’s U-turn certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons this week. Like him or loathe him, the newly appointed Reform leader has turned the election on its head. Could another coalition government be on the cards? I guess only time will tell…

At least news of his dramatic return meant we could take a breather from the perennial point-scoring between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. There’s nothing like a snap election to bring out the full Punch & Judy politics from Labour and the Conservatives!

If you saw the fiery Sunak vs Starmer TV debate on Tuesday, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Is it really necessary? I think not…

Whatever your political persuasion, in reality there are usually good and bad policies on both sides. It’s just a shame that leaders don’t have the ability to recognise when their competitor actually has a great idea!

In the commercial world we often criticise the rejection of ideas on a “Not Invented Here” basis as anathema to a successful organisation. Perhaps the political world could learn a thing or two from business in that respect. It is important to recognise excellence when you see it.

Certainly at All-Tag^® we are secure enough in our own strengths to feel able to recognise excellence in others.

We understand what we’re good at. We know the areas where we can add value. But we also recognise the strengths of others. I’m a firm believer that sometimes it takes a healthy dose of collaboration to get the right result for our customers.

Our recent roll-out of 2.5 million hard tags was a great example of what you can achieve when you form a coalition with other parties. The team and I worked in partnership with multiple manufacturers in the Far East, as well as various logistics companies across air, sea and land. And then there was the small matter of distributing the product to over 950 supermarket stores across the UK… never an easy task!

It was a huge undertaking and one that required herculean efforts from all concerned. But it was incredibly well received. The retailer has even adjusted their entire loss prevention strategy as a result. Impressive stuff! But it wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t collaborated.

Even natural enemies have been known to put down their swords and come together to achieve something great. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs famously united in 1997 when Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple stock. And let’s not forget the recent partnership between pharmaceutical rivals Pfizer and BioNTech to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine.

Even our own competitors regularly buy All-Tag products to sell to their tier-two type customers. Are we worried? Absolutely not! Because we know what we do best. We’ve identified our core voter (in this case larger, tier one customers) and our manifesto is focused on what they need.

There will always be other customers with different requirements who can be better served by alternative parties. And that’s fine.

There’s room for everyone – whether in business or in politics.

Will our political leaders put down their weapons any time soon? Of course not!

But wouldn’t it be great if the Punch & Judy show could take a short break… if only for a day!