Is Competition the Key to Success?
“WINNING isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Today many live by these words, often attributed to an American football coach, Vince Lombardi. Now, ex-Communist countries have joined in extolling the principle of competition. Introducing competition into their markets is said to be the ticket to affluence. In the Orient many parents pit their children against others and send them to cram schools that teach them the knack of passing entrance exams. The obsessed parents are convinced that entrance into a prestigious school is the key to future prosperity.
Competition, many firmly believe, is the key to success. According to their belief, humans have progressed by competing with one another. “Competition for promotion is the source of the vitality of Japanese corporations,” said 65.9 percent of the executives of major corporations surveyed by Japan’s Federation of Economic Organizations. And it seems Japanese companies have been succeeding for some time. However, is competition really the key to success?
Truly Rewarding?
People who compete against others display a selfish, me-first attitude. They are happy when others fare badly, imagining that it will in turn boost their own rating. For their own selfish gain, they may employ tactics hurtful to others. To what will such pursuit of success through competition lead? Yasuo, who immersed himself in the race to be somebody in his company, recalls his past course and says: “Full of competitive spirit and promotion-oriented thinking, I compared myself with others and felt superior. When those people were put into a position above me, I would fret and whine every day about the company’s personnel management. I had no friends in the true sense of the word.”
A competitive spirit can also lead to an untimely death. How? Japan’s Mainichi Daily News links karoshi, or death from overwork, to type-A behavior. Type A describes a behavioral pattern that copes with stress by time urgency, competitiveness, and hostility. American cardiologists Friedman and Rosenman link type-A behavior to coronary heart disease. Yes, a competitive spirit may be fatal.
Competition in the workplace can lead to other physical and mental disorders too. One example is Keinosuke, who was the top salesman for one of Japan’s major car dealers. He established a record by selling a total of 1,250 cars. His picture was framed and hung in the room used by the board of directors at the company’s headquarters. Although he loathed using his colleagues as stepping-stones to get promotions, the company pushed him to compete. As a result, in one year he suffered both gastric and duodenal ulcers. That same year, 15 executives in his company were hospitalized, and one committed suicide.
At home, the keep-up-with-the-Joneses attitude drives people to make a showy display of their means of life in a never-ending rivalry. (1 John 2:16) This benefits commercialism only, putting money into the hands of the merchants of the earth.—Compare Revelation 18:11.
Although rivalry and a competitive spirit may produce proficiency in work, it is no wonder that King Solomon observed: “I myself have seen all the hard work and all the proficiency in work, that it means the rivalry of one toward another; this also is vanity and a striving after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:4) So how can we maintain peace of mind while living in a competitive society? To find out, let us first see where the idea of competition started.