The Point Of Competition

Photo by Humberto Santos on Unsplash

Competition is a sharpening mechanism. 

It forces a clarification of our strategies, demands a strengthening of our capabilities and forces everyone to improve (if they want to continue to stay on the field).

And, in order to have competition, you have to have participation - without constraints.

You can’t, if you’re successful, fence yourself off and expect to flourish for the long term. You can’t rewrite the rules so that your place at the top is guaranteed (versus earned). 

Competition requires openness, it requires tension and uncertainty, it requires the underlying assumption of ‘merit-based achievement’.

Otherwise, you dull the edge, diffuse the aggression and destroy the (real) innovation.

I know it’s tempting, when we’re doing well, to put up the barricades and try and cordon off our turf, to try and achieve some sort of permanent leadership. The problem with this approach is that there is no such thing as ‘permanent leadership’.

The reason we’ve done well is because we’ve fought the battle and we’ve found a way to come out the other side. We’ve had our wits tested and we’ve created our own pathway to success. 

And when we’ve reached the top, we’re continually pushed to get better - by those right behind us, our closest competitors as well as the upstarts. That’s actually the point - the entire point. When our competitors push us, we’re forced to either play and get better, or back down. 

This is why competition is a sharpening mechanism. 

Nobody loves monopolies, because despite their stated intent of doing the right thing, they serve no one but themselves. In the long run, we’re all worse off.

Which is why, we can’t be scared of competition. 

Instead, we need to embrace it.