Chasing Best

All failed companies are the same: They failed to escape competition. ~ Peter Thiel

We have conspired as humanity to get ourselves into a tight spot; the unending quest to be the best or number one. Always in external competition. Always comparing ourselves to others. Always chasing measurements, translated into numbers and the wind, and into paper. Yet as one Bob Marley said, money is numbers and numbers never end; if it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end.?

It really is difficult to quench thirst with salty water

In my sales world, we thrive on competition, even though it has proven to be extremely costly to maximum product reach and wealth creation, and to internal harmony. It becomes a battle of who can slightly out-do the other for cheaper and cheaper; who can show more skin. Because of its unsustainable nature, price war is a race to the bottom for all parties involved.

But rather than trying to compete with other people or businesses, it's better to do something completely novel or to focus on a tightly defined niche. Differentiate yourself in the uniqueness of your product or service, establish yourself as an authority on something, then set your own terms rather than reactively responding to the competition. This way it is possible to monopolize the space in which you create value. The legendary Steve Jobs and his rebirth of Apple is a grand example of these ideals.

In general terms, competing with others leads people to spend every waking minute pursuing not goals of their own but what society has deemed important. You could spend your whole life trying to keep up, but will probably have a shallow life. It makes more sense to define success for yourself based on your own values and detach from the noise. There’s a saying that goes, “Being the best is great; I’m number one! But being unique is better; I’m the only one.”

There is a different path walked by the more successful individuals and companies, along which better is prioritized over cheaper, and quality is given more focus than price. On the human side the problem solvers are sought over the paper-intellectuals, and increasingly the go-getters are getting a short shrift as compared to go-givers, because unlike the latter, go-getters have a lifespan and a sell-by date. In short there will always come along somebody faster, cleverer, stronger, shrewder, cuter; if there are no skills to supplement these comparative qualities, the goose gets cooked pretty quickly. Someone once made a wisecrack that regardless of how stunning your looks are today, learn a skill because you cannot eat beauty; it fades. We all know of many too-big-to-fail companies that got caught up in this self-aggrandizement haze, who are now a pale shadow of themselves.

Jim Rohn said, "Don't wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom." Speaking of Jim, we can’t think differently from everyone when we’re reading the same books that everyone is reading; it breeds herd immunity to intellectual curiosity.?

This chasing of superlatives and comparisons distracts us from the mostly noble ideals of why our enterprises exist, which is to solve problems and provide solutions in the most effective and efficient way, that in so doing we return a profit. We mostly set out to ‘help’ people. From a scarcity perspective, helping other people hurts you because you no longer have the advantage; this perspective sees the world as a giant pie. Every piece of the pie you have is pie I don't have. So for you to win, I must lose.

From an abundance perspective however, there is not only one pie, but an infinite number of pies. If you want more, you make more. Thus, helping others actually helps you because it makes the system as a whole better (a rising tide lifts all the boats). It also builds relationships and trust and confidence. After initially patenting and protecting his technology, Elon opened it up for anyone and everyone to use, and ended up making even more money than when the tech was restricted.

I have a friend, Kaburu, who is doing some really innovative stuff at the real estate investing company that he works for. He is using strategies that no one else is using. And as they say in business, he is killing it. He told me he considered keeping his strategies a secret, because if other people knew about them, they'd use them and that would mean less business for him. But then he went and did the exact opposite in telling everyone in the unit about what he was doing. Worse still, he started sharing leads and opportunities with his colleagues, something that is quite uncommon in any quota-chasing environment.

But like all creators, thinkers and innovators, Kaburu knows that based on the depth of his craft, once one strategy no longer works, he can come up with another one, and another one. And that's what leadership and innovation is all about. And people have come to trust him. Actually, they've come to rely on him for developing the best strategies. He gets because he persists, and he keeps what he gets because he is consistent. Stephen Hawkings postures that knowledge is not knowledge unless you share it with someone.

Kaburu makes pies - for himself and several other people. And, yes, he is also the top seller and highest earner in his unit. It is because he gives the most and doesn't horde his ideas, resources, or information. And the universe, fate or whatever you want to call it is continuously conspiring to replenish him. I don’t know anyone who espouses the go-giver mentality more than Kaburu; he has taken to heart that basic principle from The Go-Giver that your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment . What I also know is that Kaburu stopped competing and surprisingly enjoys what he does even more.

Which brings me to “the moment”, a phenomenon which every skilled creative has experienced. "The moment" is when your eyes are opened to the mechanics and behind-the-scenes of your craft. Until you have this moment, it all seems like magic to you. You have no idea how people create what they create. After you have this moment, you realize that everything is done by a person intentionally creating a particular experience. This experience is unique to them and has nothing to do with what others around them are doing.

Take the movie Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for example, winner of Best Picture Oscar in 2004; I can guarantee you that those LoTR movies would have been completely different if they hadn't been directed by Peter Jackson. Completely different! Every shot, every set, the lighting, the costumes, how the characters and landscapes look, and how the whole film feels and is portrayed. It all would have looked and felt completely different based on the experience a different director would have created.

Thus, there is no right or wrong way for someone at peace with their craft. Rather, it's about doing things your way. Until you experience this "moment," you'll continue attempting the correct or best way to do things. You'll continue copying other people's work. But if you persist on your path towards your moment, you'll become disillusioned by those you once held in high esteem in realizing that they are people just like you and I. They've just made a decision to create in their own way. The idea of imitation will become abhorrent, freeing you to create as you see fit and without the insecurities that come with being measured against others. You'll emerge with your own voice and original work.?

This applies across all occupations, industries, geographies and segments. You become less troubled about how your work is received and more focused on creating something you believe in; your output becomes discernible in its uniqueness. Simply put, you stop being too fixated about being the best but rather, you become naturally different and unique. And that has no competition. Best or unique?