How To Compete With A More Talented Rival
Concrete steps on how to out-perform the competition
If you pursue your goals and ambitions, you will inevitably find yourself in competition with rivals who are more talented than you. Perhaps they have put in years of practice developing their skills, or perhaps they just exceed you in raw talent or intellect. Whatever the underlying reason, you’ll need to confront this challenge. Do not despair — instead, consider that many people and organizations have overcome this difficulty and come out ahead of the competition.
For a guide, we can look to Scipio Africanus, a general in the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). Scipio defeated Hannibal Barca, the great strategic mind of his day, and established Rome as the supreme power in the Mediterranean basin.
Scipio Africanus
Scipio came of age at a time when the Roman Republic appeared to be on the verge of annihilation. Hannibal Barca, a brilliant Carthaginian military commander, had led a ragtag army into Italy and defeated every army Rome sent against him. No one on the Roman side could match Hannibal’s genius for warfare.
Because Scipio could not defeat Hannibal outright, he decided to learn from him instead. Scipio identified what Hannibal’s strengths and weaknesses were; Scipio emulated his enemy and developed in areas where Hannibal was vulnerable; he built alliances around Carthage, and he shifted the focus of the war to where it would be more favorable to Rome. Scipio laid out a set of tools that we can learn from and apply today.
How to compete as the underdog
1) Ask yourself who your competition really is
Often this will be obvious, as it was for Rome and Carthage.
On a sales team or in a game of chess your competition is pre-defined. However, don’t waste your time and mental energy worrying about someone who is not your true competitor. Your subordinate who shows promise and aptitude should be cultivated, not regarded with distrust as a competitor.
A company in your industry with a completely different target customer than you is probably not a genuine competitor. You will gain little and lose much by indulging paranoia and regarding everyone as a competitor.
On the other hand, competition should be regarded broadly as anyone that stands between you and your objective. If you are striving for a raise and there is a limited pool of promotion money to be disbursed on your team, then everyone on the team is your competition, even if they don’t do similar work to you. If your company is laying off all non-essential functions and you want to keep your job, you must prove you are more valuable than employees on different teams than your own, so they are your indirect competition.
2) Conceal that you are competitors
Once you have identified who your competition really is, conceal that you regard your rival as a competitor.
Don’t display any outward sign of concern or gamesmanship. If you and your rival work at the same company, stress that you are “all on the same team.” For a rival company, wish them well publicly and emphasize that you are “just focused on providing excellent service for our clients.”
By openly treating your competition as an opponent, you give them power and make yourself look rattled and insecure. Don’t do anything to provoke them or make them look at you as a competitor any more than they already do.
3) Be ruthlessly honest with yourself
Put away your pride and ask yourself — in what areas is your rival superior to you?
Is their team more organized, or are they better at closing deals with new clients? Do they produce higher quality work or have stronger technical skills? Whatever the answer is, you won’t do yourself any favors by making excuses for their success. Be ruthlessly honest in identifying where they outperform you.
Scipio disregarded the traditional notion that Roman courage and aggressiveness alone would defeat Carthage. He saw that this attitude had led to catastrophe at Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannae. Dispensing with ego, Scipio accepted that Hannibal was an unparalleled rival in the field.
4) Gather information
Be your own spy and build a relationship with the rival person or organization.
Informal conversation is best around the water cooler, at company happy hours, or at industry conferences. Gather as much information as you can by asking them, obliquely, how they handle situations or challenges. Often people will be flattered and happy to tell you.
Have you ever approached a stranger at the gym and asked them about their workout routine? Usually they take it as a compliment and share everything. Use this same approach to investigate why your rival is effective.
If circumstances allow, try to build an alliance with your rival. This will neutralize the harm they may be inclined to do to you and will give you a better chance to look over their notes and learn from them.
Many Romans took it for granted that Roman ways were superior and that they had little to learn from foreigners. Scipio broke convention by studying everything Hannibal did on the battlefield to learn all he could about his enemy.
5) Reflect
Strengths: Once you’ve gathered enough information, review your rival’s strengths and ask yourself the following questions:
- Why are they better at this than you?
- Is this an area you actually need to compete in?
- How can you learn from them and emulate their performance?
Don’t be afraid to copy them and practice what they’re doing, but conceal it if you can.
Weaknesses: In studying your competition you will also have observed where they are weak. Review these weaknesses and ask yourself:
- What are the areas of vital importance where they are weak?
This area should be your primary focus. Develop your skills where they are weak and subtly draw a contrast to this area with your superiors or customers.
- What other weaknesses do they have that could be of use to you?
Some common weaknesses your rival may have:
- Over-caution or recklessness
- Arrogance, high-handedness, or personal insecurity
- Poor understanding of flattery, building relationships, and networking
Scipio provides numerous examples of exploiting your opponents weaknesses while emulating their strengths. He copied many of Hannibal’s battlefield tactics and experimented with more flexible battlefield formations, and he stole the Carthaginian advantage of cavalry by recruiting Numidia and Spanish tribes.
Of equal importance, Scipio grasped where Carthage was weak: political division at home, a system of vassals that hated their Carthaginian overlords, and over-reliance on Hannibal — a single, all-star commander who could only be in one place at a time.
6) Redefine the battleground
From Step 5, you will know where to emulate your opponent’s strengths and where to exploit their weaknesses. You want to redefine the battlefield around the areas where:
a) Your opponent is weak or underdeveloped
b) You are strong (or could become so)
c) Importance is placed by decision-makers, customers, or the public
This will vary depending on your circumstances, but some common examples are:
- Charisma — win over clients and colleagues so they find you more likeable then your opponent through charm, modesty, flattery and gifts. This alone will negate many of your competitors stronger abilities.
- Relationship building — If your decision-makers spend more time with you and trust your opinion, you will have an outsized influence on how they view the organization and your opponent.
- Presentation — Cosmetics matter. If you hone your public-speaking and craft quality presentations or reports, your work will appear more valuable than a less polished product, even if the underlying substance of your competition is superior.
For Scipio, this meant attacking Spain, Carthage’s breadbasket. Here he could knock out Carthage’s less-competent generals, rebuild Roman morale, and exploit Spanish hatred for their imperial Carthaginian masters. Later, he would take the fight to Africa, forcing Hannibal to abandon Italy and fight on Scipio’s terms.
A more recent example was the fierce competition between Lyft and Uber in the ridesharing industry in the 2010’s: Uber had an overwhelming market footprint and far more capital, but Lyft identified an Achilles’ Heel — the public perception that Uber was a heartless corporation that disrespected women. In the era of MeToo and reckless tech giants, Lyft exploited this weakness and marketed themselves as the more principled option in the ‘Delete Uber’ campaign to great success.
Redefining the battleground on your terms is of critical strategic importance — read more about it in this prior post.
Other Strategies
If you employ the strategy outlined above, you will reduce the advantage your more talented rival has over you. However, to ensure your success you should consider applying the following strategies:
Out-organize your rival
Organization multiplies efficiency. Organizing your priorities, finances, and calendar will eliminate much of the advantage your competitor has over you.
- A rival company may have a better sales team, but if they use an inferior CRM or don’t organize it well, you have an opportunity to better equip your salespeople to generate and close deals.
- A colleague may work harder and produce more than you, but if your calendar and priorities are effectively organized then you can hit the deadlines you need to without matching their pace. (A great resource for getting personally organized is David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system.)
Out-work your rival
As the old saying goes, hard work always beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. If you cannot match a rival’s abilities in the workplace or athletic field, you can often win the old-fashioned way: outwork them. Putting in nights and weekends will be a sacrifice, but you will come to master the subject and have greater stamina than your rival, and over time it will show.
Scipio trained his forces for a year on the island of Sicily before invading Africa. He would not risk going to battle with green, inexperienced troops, so he put in the work to ensure he would have the advantage.
Build alliances around them
If you aren’t already doing this, you should get started. Humans are social creatures, and we hold a strong bias towards those with whom we have a positive relationship.
- Superiors — Build a relationship with your managers and decision-makers in the organization. These people ultimately call the shots, and if they like you they will rank you more highly as an employee.
- Peers — Take time to meet and charm your peers. If you build goodwill with them, they will speak well of you to their managers and warn you of potential threats coming your way.
- Subordinates — Spend time with subordinates and smaller clients. Building strong relationships with folks who are lower on the totem pole will pay dividends, as they will spread your positive reputation and keep an ear to the ground about your competitors.
Scipio was not ashamed to court Carthage’s neighbors. He freed captives of Spanish tribes and won them over with promises of revenge against Carthage. He cut a deal with a regional prince to align himself with Numidia, depriving Carthage of a strategic ally in Africa.
Look for opportunities to hit a home run
If you are patient and keep your ear to the ground, you will identify opportunities to make a splashy, public success. This might be a presentation to the C-Suite, or successfully organizing a conference, or playing peace-maker between two factions.
Whatever it is, these opportunities overshadow the day-to-day superiority of your rival and will give your audience a positive perception of your worth.
Know when to redefine your own role
Sometimes, your best bet is to shift away from what you’re doing and leave it to the competition. Find new territory to expand your job or business where you won’t be the small fish in the pond. A good manager will be open to you presenting a detailed vision for different responsibilities you want to move into.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, your surest path to success is to learn from your rivals and focus on improving yourself in the areas of importance to you. This will serve your long-term interest beyond the contests of today.
Be prepared to move on. Know when you cannot (or don’t really want to) win the game. If you cannot advance towards your ambition or learn as much as you could in another area, accept when it’s time to move on.
Finally, do not allow yourself to be pulled into a competition that isn’t of core interest to you. Try to compete in areas where your passion and values lay. Honing yourself in these areas will come more easily and naturally anyway.
How to compete with a more talented rival.
