We’ve all heard the saying “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” I have a different spin on it and it goes like this; “When the going gets good, the good get going.”
Many in the car business have turned the corner from some tough years and are making all time record profits. Let me caution you – you cannot be satisfied.
You can never be satisfied. Those sounds you hear behind you are the competition coming to gobble you up. If you take just one little break, take your eye off the ball for one second, or have one little hiccup it could be the very thing that starts a downward spiral.
As Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz reminds us, “Seek to renew yourself, even when you’re hitting homeruns.” How appropriate is that in today’s market?
Competition always makes you better. Those competitors running behind you are a good thing. Learn to appreciate your competitors and make it a point to learn from them. Use them to scare you into more heightened motivation and a stronger competitive mind-set.
Successful people often succeed out of fear. The fear of failure. The fear of falling back. The fear of giving up all they have worked so hard for. It’s that fear that causes the successful ones to keep pushing and to keep looking for new and better ways of doing things.
Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems once said “You either eat someone for lunch, or you can be lunch.” No truer statement has ever been made.
Competition is the very lifeblood of a driven business leader. Study it. Embrace it. Love it. Use it as success fuel. Use it to take you to the top of your mental game. Develop an unstoppable competitive mind-set, and it will push you so far ahead of the competition that you won’t have to worry about looking over your shoulder.
Competition is an extra spice that keeps life interesting, keeps us on our toes, and stimulates us to greater creativity and productivity.
The best leaders realize that when they are having success it’s easy for the team to become satisfied and complacent and it’s the leader’s job never to let that happen. A leader’s job is to push the team through the good times to the next level, and the next level and the next level. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs