Competition in a Nutshell
People with Competition are driven by winning. They compare themselves to others and want to come out ahead.
People with high Competition are motivated by measurable wins. They want to know how they're doing relative to others. They play to win, not just to play. They bring intensity and a desire for excellence.
At their best, people with high Competition raise the bar for everyone around them. Their desire to win pushes quality higher. They set ambitious targets and work hard to hit them. They make organisations better by refusing to settle.
Your Key Contributions
- Benchmarking against the best: Your drive to measure against the best raises the bar for everyone around you
- Creating competitive drive: You turn ordinary work into a visible scoreboard, making people care about the result
- Performing under stakes: You perform sharpest when stakes are high, and your energy lifts the team with you
Watch Out For
- Being overly focused on winning at the expense of collaboration
- Making teammates uncomfortable with constant comparison
- Difficulty accepting loss or second place
- Becoming ruthless in pursuit of victory
The 2 Sides of Competition
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What Energises You
- Clear metrics that show you're winning
- Competing against others and coming out ahead
- Seeing your name at the top of the scoreboard
- Setting ambitious targets and hitting them
- Working with other competitive, excellent people
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What Drains You
- Losing or coming in second
- Vague outcomes that don't show winners and losers
- Colleagues who don't care about winning
- Participation-trophy cultures where everyone's equal
- Lack of feedback on how you're doing
How Others See You
How to Invest in Competition for Work
If You're high in Competition
Managing Someone Who Leads with Competition
- Create visible scoreboards so they can see their standing.
- Let them compete against clear benchmarks.
- Use their drive to push team performance.
- Don't ask them to hide their competitive nature; channel it.
Connecting with Someone who Leads with Competition
- Acknowledge when they win and when they lose.
- Don't pretend competition doesn't exist; they see it clearly.
- Bring your best game when working with them; they'll respect it.
- Use competition as motivation, not threat.