We all like winners, We like people that excel at something. Sports people are a good demonstration of this. Last night I was watching the ladies Wimbledon Tennis. The game I was watching intrigued me due to the amount skill, dedication, pursuit, and always fighting for that last point. Here were two woman quite clearly prepared to do anything to get that ball over the net. People can say that women are less competitive than males but last night at Wimbledon nobody would have believed it.
I do believe that we are competitive. Even are first journey in the womb to fertilise the egg is a big race. (apparently one in a million chance). Like the chick that can not break out of its shell the picture is similar in human survival.
As customers we will choice what we consider to be the best product for our needs. It is competitiveness that drives successful economies forward.
Competitiveness has the following positive traits for business:
A Dynamic Culture
A Positive Atmosphere
Not afraid to make mistakes
Employees keen to develop there skills
There are some down sides to competitiveness when it becomes individually orientated with teams starting to disintegrate as they try to out do each other. I would personally view this as not being competitive but more focusing on the mistakes one makes and general negativity.
We can learn a lot from sport, if we are able to produce outstanding work more times than not we will succeed in growing our business and customer base.