Blog Series: The Bonds We Make - Competing with Honor in Sales
Smita Satyavada
Cloud Sales Leader @ AWS | Serving people who empower builders and businesses to build a better India
The concept of having a ‘Worthy Opponent’ gained a lot of popularity after Simon Sinek wrote about it in his book – ‘The Infinite Game’. At its heart the concept is simple – worthy competition pushes us from a position of envy to a position of improvement. Sales teams are built on the foundation of competition – starting from competing with our industry rivals (externally), to competing with our peers (locally) and for the intrinsically initiated competing with our past performances. And while competition fuels our reasons for loving this job, when unchecked it has the ability to corrupt even the most balanced minds and organizations.
So how do you deal with envy? How do you identify a worthy opponent? How do you aim at becoming one? I will answer this in 3 parts:
Dealing with Envy: Accept the feeling as a natural part of our shared psychology, fueled by the kind of day job we are in. Envy and Insecurity are twin sisters – so ask yourself this – In this moment, what am I feeling insecure about? What is the source of this feeling? What can I do about it? Is my reaction to this insecurity in-line with my core-values and those expected of my team?
Identifying a Worthy Opponent: A worthy opponent is not just someone who exhibits strengths in areas of our weakness, but also someone who inspires us to become a _better_ version of ourselves. These individuals usually tend to be on top of their game for a sustained period of time, showing winning behaviors that transcend the trendline of a current year and have done so ethically and within the bounds of honorable business practices.
How do you become a Worthy Opponent? : By living in self-awareness – identifying not just areas of weakness , but also strengths. Making a conscious choice on which weakness to work on and which strength to perfect further. Most importantly, focus on your actions and your game. No great athlete ever made it to the Olympics or the World Cup, worrying about how someone else was doing on the team. You Do You!
Additional Reading Link: https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/simon-sinek-heres-why-everyone-should-have-a-work-rival.html