In A Business Heart, Everything Is Competitive.

Driving on a boulevard that has street lights running on a timer, the business owner will try to 'hit' every one of them without stopping.  The business owner will either slow down the pace or speed it up a little bit to make sure each stop light can be 'hit' without having to come to a complete stop at the red light.  The owner will even roll very slowly at the end in order to win!  It is not considered cheating.  As long as a complete stop did not occur, he wins.  It is a competitive thing.

When reading the mail the owner will find some of the material useless, wad up the paper into a small ball then turn and try to make a basket into the garbage with the waste.  It is a competitive thing.  The owner might even go through the plant and round up a couple of the other business associates to head downstairs for a cup of coffee during break time.  They will use a carpet line on the floor in the hallway as a marker to pitch coins from 20 feet away to see who comes the closest.  The associate whose coin lands the furthest away from the make-shift line buys this round of coffee.  Some comments, maybe some yells and growls will highlight the last pitched coin as it almost wins!  It is a competitive thing.

Owners are competitive by nature.  Everything they seem to touch is a bit competitive.  Business owners are sometimes very bad movie partners.  They are always trying to figure out what will happen next in the movie.  They get excited when they are right with their predictions.  They will even describe who's celebrity voice is being used in animated movies and commercials.  Everything to them is a game.  Business owners usually dominate conversations.  They always sound like salesmen.  They are trying to convince, convince and convince.  It is a competitive thing.  In a business heart, everything is competitive.

The end of the month is fast approaching, right now.  The business owner is already checking out the numbers to see if any records are going to be broken this month.  If the month is running slower than usual, some decisions to cause it to speed up will be made.  The employees can count on a routine pass through by the owner to 'spark up' the volume so the month ends with some great numbers.  It is a competitive thing.  Business owners are very competitive.  They do not like losing.  They do not enjoy producing marginal results.  They will shoot the wad of paper three or four times to make it 'swish' into the garbage can...then act like it was the only shot they attempted!  Many business owners are competitive.

If you live with a business owner, if you work for one of them, you know exactly what I mean.  Everything is some kind of competition.  This includes debates, conversations, driving, sleeping, eating, drinking, fishing, snow boarding, computer games, bike riding, online information searching and even watching movies...everything is a game.

Business owners like the feeling they get when they believe they have won.  Business owners have a deepened drive that represents coming from behind and winning big.  Business owners tend to over-look many obstacles in their path and continue to apply the pressure onto something they are trying to achieve.  Obstacles in their path become only a sign that something is temporarily keeping them from scoring big.  Competitive owners usually treat obstacles like tall hands trying to block their shot.  They will actually try to 'fake out' the obstacle and do something unusual to produce the win.  Some can be very competitive.

Many successful business owners are not characteristically 'wired' with logical and pragmatic components.  Pragmatism kills competition.  Competitive characteristics need tall dreams in order to survive.  Pragmatic minds are too practical to allow dreams and hopes to co-exist with reality.  Big dreams do not always make a lot of sense.  Sleeping with a baseball glove as a child does not easily translate into becoming a great baseball player.  Even though it has a huge impact on producing the victory, it cannot be quantified by the pragmatic mind.  Pragmatism can kill the successful competitive spirit.  Millions of miracles are performed every day by dreamers and competitive believers.  Had a practical mind been in charge of the move to go ahead with the risk, nothing would have been tried nor gained.  The competitive spirit carries a whole bunch of power.  It can drive a losing business right out of a hopeless trail.  I have seen it happen.  I have been behind the wheel when it has happened.  Sleeping with the baseball glove as a child does in fact work well to produce the 'right' competitive spirit sometimes needed to manufacture success.  Pragmatic leaders miss the power of this reality, while they substitute it with actual numbers from reality charts.  Pragmatics are not comfortable taking risks.  Do not try to teach that attitude to Michael Jordan.  You would not know his name if you had succeeded in teaching him how to be pragmatic when he was young and learning.  Be very careful when you perform this type of pragmatic transition.  It may spell "D-E-A-T-H" for your business model.  You will not enjoy the feeling of great victories, ever.  I believe Michael produced a lot of failing attempts, but that is not what drove him.  If you are a business owner, and you are more pragmatic than competitive in nature, you better get this concept down very quickly.



Pragmatism can be supported with loads of justifiable material and evidence.  Pragmatic evidence will be stronger to use against the "miracles of mystery" competitive forces occasionally produce.  Many a weaker and less talented basketball team has defeated a much better team with shear desire and many last minute miracles that can never be described by logic and evidence.  Business is exactly the same thing.  Turn-around business results do happen and they defy logic.  I have been a part of them.  I know they exist.  I have watched them flourish when all signs pointed to failure.  If you own a business and your pragmatic view is dismal, make sure you have a competitor aboard your ship.  If you do, get the heck out of his way and let him shoot the ball.

Most pragmatic owners fail.  I can count all of them in my history.  I can see them in my mind.  They tend to back off when the risk gets too muddy to see.  Competitors do not see the same mud.  Competitors believe they can win even though the basket cannot be seen.  It is a characteristic that helps winners win.  Most winning comes when it is least expected.  Winning is not the by-product of taking ten comfortable steps and producing a margin of victory.  Winning is getting whipped enough to cause the competitor to make unusual adjustments that defies defeat.  Winning is not a logical process.  Most of the victories can be described after they have occurred, not before.  In the heat of business battle, nothing is very clear...except a winner's attitude at the wheel.

As the end of the month approaches, get out of the way of a competitor.  Allow the competitor to do the weird things they do to win.  Get the heck out of their way.  Winners will produce the record numbers.  They will do it in unusual fashion.  It will not make sense.  It will defy logic.  It will mystify the onlookers, especially those who spend too much time evaluating.  Get the heck out of their way, unless of course, if you prefer to lose.

Competitors find a way to win.  They find that way even when it does not exist.  They thrive on miracle endings.  Allow them to produce the month end, miracle endings.  Do not try to govern a competitor.  Competitors handle tight reins like a 'wicked off' stallion.  Under tight reins, they will jump ship and leap over the fence.  They need to run.  When they feel the tightened reins, if they remain in the stall, it will kill their competitive spirit.  If you employ some competitors, learn how to quietly remove the reins.  Put on your seat belt, however, the ride they will take you on will not be a smooth one.  You will eventually win, but the ride will scare the heck out of you.  Learn how to look the other way and do not watch them perform their magic.  It will not look very profitable.

Here is how I see it.  If the ride your business is taking you on right now is not the one you preferred, what have you got to lose?  In the end you may not win, anyway.  With a serious competitor at the wheel you might have a chance, even though the ride will be bumpier than you prefer.

Are you a competitor?  If not, make sure you have a competitor holding the wheel.  Even against the odds, your chances are better.

Until next time...