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Purpose...As so often in this development, let us start with things that we should avoid. Principal among those is competition. As discussed previously, competition allows our agenda to be defined by the weakness of our competitors. In the areas of our mastery, we have no need to compete. There is no place to go. The hierarchy of skill is established and well-understood among our peers. Any test of skill is simply a demonstration. It is a public display for the purposes of comparison. But what of those still on the rise? Is competition not an essential drive for success? Perhaps, but it cannot be an end in itself. Simply beating the competition does not mean that you have acquired a useful skill. Comparison is a broader process than competition. It places the test of skills in the context of an audience of stakeholders. This context enables us to separate ourselves from the personality of our competitor, to see the competition as only a test of egos, and to refocus our energies to more purposeful ends. That purpose is defined by a virtuous synergy between the needs of our stakeholders and our desire to achieve mastery. Our commitment to their needs generates good will that calls excellence from us. Just as in the case of romance, we act intuitively, because the connection with our stakeholders allows their wisdom, energy and understanding to reach us at the moments determining of success. Every politician nominated for high office, every athlete driven by the roar of the crowd, every musician delivering a masterly performance knows this feeling. They speak of being lifted up, of their supporters "giving back" to them. |
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