Your Competition Creates Unfair Situations

You recall the book I talked about a few days ago.

Emma talks about creating unfair situations for her good players, especially before an important road match.

• "... including the stimulation of situations that trigger overwhelming emotional responses. When the time is right, I consciously set out to provoke the team by being an outrageously poor referee during training games. I let challenges go, give imaginary fouls, and award free kicks and penalties on a whim. I will allow play to continue if the ball goes marginally off the pitch, provided it inconveniences my scheduled starters, the players who make up my best team. It drives them mad. They hate me."

This reminded me of a discussion I had at a conference (pre-COVID) where the Executive complained about how unfair it was that a large competitor ruined Google for his brand. He was exasperated that they sat on all of his important keywords, spending whatever they want. He couldn't believe that their organic results never kept up with this large competitor. His Facebook page had 30,000 followers, the large brand had 850,000 followers. He'd tell me that "they have all the advantages, this is such an unfair game."

It drove him mad.

Remember the movie "Enemy of the State?" It's on linear television three times a week. Brill has a quote in the movie:

• "... if they're big and you're small, then you're mobile and they're slow. You're hidden and they're exposed. You only fight battles you know you can win."

In a recent call, the CEO told me his brand was "scrappy". He was right. What he described to me sounded like an underfunded group of renegades who would not let unfair situations stop them from being excellent. They had a great process, which led to great results.

Your competition creates unfair situations that you have to deal with. Be scrappy! Fight through it. Imagine what the competitor is saying about you!