COMPETITION

Competition is a natural phenomenon of human life. From the time we were little children, barely knee high to our parents, we have learnt to compete for what we want. Since then competition has embedded itself into the fabric of our day to day lives. From buying to selling to learning to dealing, the tentacles of competition have seeped into every aspect of human advancement. The moment we step out of the cozy confines of our house, we are spooled into the whirlpool of a “Competitive World” where it is no longer the survival of the fittest, but the survival of the smartest.

Humans are naturally inclined to better themselves and make progressive improvement in their lives. Without competition, the world would have been so different and mundane. There would not have been any sports, games, civilizations, business or the other advancements that we see around us today. Peter M Senge, through his path breaking book – The Fifth Discipline, brought out the importance of competition in the evolution of various civilizations. His finds revealed that the civilizations which were caught in the constant flux of competition, at times with nature (floods) or with epidemics (plague) or with other civilizations (invasions), evolved and thrived whereas the others were left far behind. He extrapolated this philosophy to the business world and coined the term – Learning Organisation, where the organization consistently learns from its employees and competitors and tries to improve in every aspect. Competition always brings out the best in us. Just imagine if Bjo
Borg, Gary Kasparov and Muhammed Ali never had competitiors like John McEnroe, Anatoly Karpov and George Foreman ? Without these very enterprising competitors these mere mortals would never have become the legends they are today.

The work place can be made into a breeding ground of healthy competitions where the employees compete with each other for the attainment of a common goal. Competitions should always be constructive and help us gravitate close towards individual/organizational excellence. A healthy competition yields something positive for the organization as well as the employees. The underlying tenet is that we should always use our co-workers success as motivation to improve our own performance.

“ The ability to learn faster than our competitors is the greatest competitive advantage”

Business success depends on the ability to compete with our rivals. Competition facilitates generation of new ideas and helps to deliver the best.

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