Just Swim

It’s not about being better than other people. It’s about being the very best at being you.

I was a competitive swimmer when I was a kid. One of the things I remember most clearly was my coach, Mike, shouting “Don’t look, just swim!” In a race, you’re not supposed to look at the person in the other lane. It’s a cardinal rule. Checking out the competition is enticing. But it slows you down.
 
The Rise of Strategy
 
The concept of ‘strategy’ was originated by the military in wartime. A military unit would assess its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to determine how it might set goals to gain advantage over the competition.

In 1946, economist Peter Drucker published his findings that the most successful companies were good at goal setting, kicking off a new era of business management that revolved around strategy. General Motors CEO Alfred Sloan was one of the first to introduce strategy to the business landscape in the early 1950s, and soon large corporations were widely embracing tools like the SWOT analysis for corporate planning.

Corporate strategy’s approach was the same as war. How do you kill the enemy? How do you steal their customers, take their market share, and put them out of business?
 
Make Friends, Not War
 
Military-style business strategy worked for a long time, ushering corporations into an era of growth, efficiency, and profitability. But it’s no longer quite as effective. In a world where the balance of power has shifted away from corporate boards and into the hands of customers and employees, integrity and empathy are the new sources of competitive advantage.

Even Peter Drucker changed his tune long ago. “Success comes to those who know themselves - their strengths, their values, and how they best perform" is a widely shared excerpt from his 2001 book Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Successful brands know who they are and what they stand for. They befriend their customers and their employees. Instead of trying to be better than the others, they work to be the very best at being themselves.
 
Don’t Look 

Create products and services that you believe in, and that the world genuinely needs. Create a culture of camaraderie and enthusiasm. Invent. Collaborate. Serve. Growth and share will follow. If you want to win the race, don’t obsess about the competition. Just swim.