Since when being selfish is a problem ? Anyone has a tendency to better solve a problem when it's "his problem" rather than waiting someone does it for him.
Like everything, there needs to be a balance. A healthy amount of selfishness is necessary for self-preservation, but too much is just greed. I found this wiki page on "enlightened self-interest" that has some interesting info related to the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightened_self-interest