Invisible Competitors

Tyler Cowen over at Marginal Revolution has an interesting post regarding an article he penned for the Wilson Quarterly.

The piece looks at how people emotionally respond to the move from neighborhood, face-to-face competition to competition at a distance, or what I call invisible competition.  Some people will fare better in this new environment than others; for instance people who rely on adrenalin to compete will find it harder to motivate themselves in this new and more impersonal environment.

In effect, that's today's reality.  Competition has become global, and no longer do we meet our competitors at the local coffee shop or regional industry conferences.  Let's get back to the type of people... and hence the organizations they lead... who will thrive in this new environment.

The greatest gains in this new world are likely to go to people who are methodical planners or who love the game for its own sake. Some people plot their competitive strategies far in advance. These planners—be they crazy or just highly productive—don’t need anyone breathing down their necks, and indeed they often work best alone or in very small groups. Bill Gates is a classic example. Planners’ behavior may manifest itself in very competitive forms, but their underlying psychology is often not very rivalrous at all. They are ordering their own realities, usually for their individual psychological reasons, rather than acting out of a desire to trounce the competition. Early risers will also be favored. These people enjoy being first in line, or first to use a new idea, for its own sake.

And then there are the types that miss the boat, but try to make up for it.

As the concrete manifestations of the more important contests of love and business vanish, we recreate up-close rivalry to make our lives feel more real. I suspect that this helps explain the growing appetite for televised athletics and organized sports for children as well as the vogue for reality TV series such as Survivor and American Idol, eating contests, and even spelling bees. Because children are a cheap labor supply and willing to engage in all sorts of behavior for a chance at a prize or parental approval, they often serve as the vehicle for parents who seek to live out their desire for head-to-head competition vicariously. Spelling, for example, does not interest many people (who sits around practicing?), but bees exemplify the competitive spirit in action. The challenge to spell autochthonous, panmyelopathy, or warison will bring one kid to tears and another to triumph.

A little thought-provoking, eh?  Do you need direct contact with competition to thrive, or are your organizations forging their own paths to satisfy customers?