How competitive are you? Some of us work collaboratively with our colleagues, even if we're vying for our share of the same bonus pool. Others one-up each another at meetings, keep valuable information to themselves, and jockey - with pointy elbows - to curry more favor with the boss or to seal the biggest deal.
If you're an introvert, what does that add to the mix? You may be just as competitive as your extrovert* colleagues. However, you prefer spending more of your time immersed in solo activities like reading, researching, listening, strategizing in your head, and crafting language for killer proposals. Also, if you have your druthers, you'll focus on one task at a time. You can still ace the negotiation, cinch the deal, and command the big bucks. However, you need more time offline to gather and process your thoughts.
"The ability to cooperate, to make individuals subordinate their strong sense of self-interest to the needs of the group, lies at the root of human achievement," according to a recent story in the New York Times. By comparing and contrasting human behavior to that of primates, the story offers explanations for our cooperation and collaboration with one another. Kim Hill, Ph.D., a social anthropologist quoted in the story, sums it up: "We have rockets because 10,000 individuals cooperate in producing the information."
Kathryn Mayer, a leadership development consultant and author of the book Collaborative Competition(TM), contends that competition is an opportunity - a chance to learn, evolve, and excel. Instead of viewing competition as a cutthroat means to squashing your opponent, she is all about strategic win-win collaborations that can actually be enjoyable.
Mayer draws from her experience as a competitive amateur tennis player as well as leadership roles she's held at Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and Citigroup's Investment Bank. In Collaborative Competition, Mayer interviews 40 women who have risen to the top of fields as diverse as medicine, politics, professional sports, and investment banking. Many of Mayer's clients are men as well as women in senior corporate leadership positions.
"For men the goal of competition is clear: winning," she says. "In contrast, research shows that women have a tendency to strive for perfection. Women tend to view perfection as an identity, which limits their ability to perform as effective competitors, take on leadership roles and most importantly enjoy life and its challenges." Some introverts also suffer from the perils of perfectionism. For a discussion about that, check out my story, "Introverts: Manage Your Perfectionism and Reduce Your Agita!"
Mayer shares one of her favorite stories of an introvert who practices collaborative competition: "Alicia, a mayor of a mid-size city, gets results through aligning interests. She has gotten many controversial issues accepted by listening to people, learning their needs, and looking for opportunities to form alliances." Mayer adds that Alicia loves the competitive aspect of politics, but credits her ability to collaborate for her success. In fact, Mayer says that Alicia is uncomfortable using the word "I" - she constantly credits others.
In drawing parallels between competition in tennis and business throughout her book, Mayer quotes tennis great
Pete Sampras as saying that his competitor
Andre Agassi made him a better player by pushing him to heighten his game. Mayer offers the following tips to help you heighten your game - and even enjoy the process:
