Run Your Own Race

Focus on Being the Best YOU!

Henry Ford was right when he said “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time”.

My philosophy is “Don’t waste time focusing on everyone else, just focus on being the best YOU”.

The “Miracle Mile” was a historic race between Bannister and Landy, the two fastest milers of their time and the first two to ever break the 4-minute mile barrier. Bannister was the first to break the barrier and Landy set a world record (3:57.9) 6 weeks later. The “Miracle Mile” marked the first time in history 2 men broke the 4 min barrier in the same race, with Bannister passing Landy in the final stretch as Landy glanced back over his shoulder. Landy must have wondered what could have been had he focused on his own race, and pushed as hard as he could without worrying about what Bannister was doing!

Back Yourself and Your Strategy

There are several other very good reasons for limiting and controlling your focus on the competition.

• It’s easy to focus on the WRONG competitor – Nokia weren’t focused on Apple, it was the likes of Sony Ericsson or Motorola. After the iPhone launch Nokia reduced from a Global Market Share of 39% of new sales in 2009 to less than 7% in 2012 and now gets included as “others” in most statistics!
• Assume you have set the right strategy and rolled that into a quality operational action plan, with KPI’s, goals, and the right review process. Flip-flopping in response to other companies can prove to be a distraction, a costly one! Instead, focus on achieving YOUR strategy and goals, with regular reviews to check on that strategy to stay on track.
• Organisations that are too busy looking at their competitors often don’t have their own back yard in order. If we need an example of that, we need look no further than the Cricket Australia issues in 2018, for Aussie cricket fans reading this, it’s clear to see that in 2019 they are now focused on “running their own race”

The “Do’s and Don’t’s” of focusing on your competitors

It clearly is essential that we do consider external factors such as political, economic, social and technical impacts, as well as the competitors and most importantly of course – customers. We do this when we set and review our STRATEGY.

Yes, consider the competitors in your strategic plans, and in development of the operational plans. Then back yourself …. don’t obsess on the competition every day in the operation and execution of your plans.

Customers provide feedback and what they want and like, do what they are telling you and do it better than the competition.

Contact JBC for help reviewing, setting and focus on executing your strategy