Hi, Danny.
One of the things I've seen in the music business in an increasing frequency is a lack of the comraderie that was common a few years ago. Competition and the ability of more singles to compete with sequences...whatever, has spawned some very competitive; even confrontational interactions.
Sadly,that's also sort of the way things are in corporate America..often the ones who get the work are not necessarily the most talented, but the most aggressive.
True competition is great in theory, but all the "baggage" so common in many fields is unfortunate.
We are all in competition with others. If we were all in the same geography, we'd be in head to head competition. The "zone" sort of harks back to a kinder, gentler day, where sharing of experience...mentoring, if you will, was the norm.
Keeping the spirit of the group in mind would go a long way towards eliminating the recent "bumps" in the road.
Best to all,
Russ