Sometimes, it seems like there is this growing consensus that competition is bad. We should all get along and cooperate and no one should have to lose and get their feelings hurt. There are schools now where, especially for younger children, games are played where everyone wins, no matter who scored more points. (Never mind that some children do keep score, and know whether they won or lost–kids aren’t always as stupid as adults are prone to believe.)

That is simply not reality and I believe that failing to teach children reality does more harm than good. How will you prepare them how to handle real failure if they’ve never experienced defeat?

Competition can be good. It teaches important lessons and how to win and how to lose.

I think the problem is people believing that all competition is bad, and failing to recognize that there are two types of competition. The only options people frequently see are competition or cooperation. They see cooperation as good, so competition must be bad.

In fact, only one type of competition is bad, and that is destructive competition. Destructive competition exists in many forms. If two countries go to war over competing claims to a resource, that is destructive competition. If two businesses undermine each other’s products or services with false claims or sabotage, that is destructive competition. If two people slander each other in the media, that’s destructive competition. Look no further than most political races to see an example of destructive competition, where candidates tear each other down.

With destructive competition, while there may ultimately be a victor, victory has come at a high price and people will have suffered (or died) as a result.

The other form of competition is constructive competition. Under constructive competition, businesses compete by building better products or by providing better service or offering a better price than their competitors. While this may sometimes result in the losing competitor going out of business, more frequently the result is a variety of products and services in the marketplace, with continual improvement. In this constructive competition, the victor benefits with higher sales or higher profits, the losers may still benefit with sales and profits plus learning important lessons for their next product or service, and consumers win with lower prices, higher quality products and/or a wider selection of products, enabling them to find one that best suits their needs.

With constructive competition, people compete, whether in sports or careers or blog sparring. And, in this competition, people improve themselves, they improve their skills, they learn important lessons from the competition. There are even examples where people have helped their competitors.

There is such an example in the sports world that I have been trying for a couple months to find. I know I read it in a book I have, but I cannot remember which one, and it hasn’t been in any of the ones I thought it was in. The example was of a record-holding athlete. Another athlete was trying to beat the record, and called the record-holder for advice. And, the record-holder gave him advice–helpful advice, not misleading tips. Now, that is constructive competition at its finest!

Constructive competition can even be better than cooperation! Competition is built into our very nature and, when used constructively, can be a better tool for success and motivation than a cooperative effort.

So, let’s discard this notion that all competition is bad! The next time someone tells you how awful it is for people to compete, let them know there are two types of competition: constructive and destructive. Let’s teach our kids how to compete constructively, while discouraging them from competing destructively! And, keep score, so that children can learn reality!

Constructive competition, good. Cooperation, meh.

Believe. Act. Achieve!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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