Competition as the highest form of collaboration for a greater good.
I finally read The Inner Game of Tennis. It’s been sitting on my list for far too long. One thoughtful instagram post from Daniel Pink finally tipped me into, “Fine. I’m reading it now.”
This year marks the book’s 50th anniversary, and somehow, it feelt so current, more relevant than ever.
It made me, for the first time, realize how powerful competition can be for unlocking human potential, and how for so long I didn't get it at all!
For years, I avoided competition because it felt like a zero-sum game. Someone wins, someone loses.
But competition, done right, isn’t about proving you’re the best. (And someone is a loser)
It’s about discovering the best in you and in others!
When you see someone doing something better, it’s an invitation to explore your own limits. You try, you experiment, you grow. In that pursuit, you stumble upon new techniques, new ideas, new courage and skills you didn’t know you had.
That’s the kind of competition that doesn’t drain you - it elevates you and others. It doesn’t create enemies, it creates partners in growth.
As Gallwey writes in The Inner Game of Tennis:
“Each player tries their hardest to defeat the other, but in this use of competition it isn’t the other person we are defeating; it is simply a matter of overcoming the obstacles the other presents... Both players benefit by their efforts to overcome the obstacles presented by the other. Like two bulls butting their heads against one another, both grow stronger and each participates in the development of the other.”
Imagine if we led teams, companies, or even industries this way -
where competition becomes collaboration in disguise,
and every challenge makes us all stronger.
So, over to you, dear reader,
If competition was about advancing the field you care about,
what would you try to be the best at?
