Competition

BusinessWeek's latest is a special issue on the state of competition -- in individuals, business and communities.  The highlights from the issue:

1. People still like to compete.  Only now, instead of focusing on winning at just one thing, the new focus is balance.  Individuals not only want to win at a career or in personal life -- they want it all.
2. Competition doesn't come necessarily at the expense of others.  While there are still those who will kill to get ahead, more and more, collaboration to succeed is viewed as a key to success.
3. Individuals who are highly competitive not only compete against others, but against themselves.  Bettering their personal best is as much a motivator as beating the other gal in the game to get ahead.  These individuals have high self confidence and seem immune to failures -- not because they don't fail, but because they see failures as opportunities to learn for the next time.  These individuals are usually not as great as they think they are -- but what they lack, they make up for in drive and optimism.  The magazine has bylines by some of the more well known executives, which tells in their words, how they compete.  It makes for an interesting read.
4. The issue also has an article on the biological basis for our drive to compete.  Basically it comes down to survival -- food and sex.  It's hard wired in our genes -- but our brains are capable of going against our preprogramming.  Which is probably good, because we'd be still out there killing each other instead of collaborating in communities.
5. There are also articles that look at how people become the best.  They can be summarized easily, and you'll probably not like the answer if you're lazy.  Successful people aren't any different from you or I.  They don't have magic.  What they have behind them is hard work.  Successful people work hard.  They practice.  Over and over.  Sometimes to the detriment of everything else.
6. Just as it is with individuals, businesses are also highly competitive, or end up complete failures.  C.K. Prahalad is quoted as saying, "Whatever advantage you have, someone will take it away from you."  Businesses have to respond to social, economic and competitive changes on an ongoing basis.  The status quo is change.
7. Globalization has not pitted countries against one another -- or make render geographic advantage moot.  On the contrary.  What it has done is make location very important, as individuals can now easily relocate to where the work is -- or to communities that fulfill other needs than just the job.