Amp It Up

4Declare War on Your Competitors and on Incrementalism

The War Against Your Competitors

It's no exaggeration to say that business is war. Either you already have a turf, and you have to defend it against all comers, or else you have to invade somebody else's turf and take it. We are playing defense and offense at the same time. Either way, conflict is inevitable. Only the government can print money; the rest of us have to take it from somebody else. I love a win‐win deal as much as anyone else, but it's much more common that business is close to a zero‐sum game.

Part of your responsibility as a leader is making this crystal clear to your people. In today's polite society, many of them will resist the metaphor of war. Life is plenty ugly already; can't we be more civilized about competing with other firms? You'll have to teach them that the game doesn't really start until the other guys, whose profits you are trying to seize, start fighting back with everything they have. They are not our friendly competitors. At a minimum, noses will get bloodied. At worst, in a few months or years, some firms in our industry will still be in business and others won't.

Not everyone has this visceral sense of contest, especially at companies that shield their people from the real stakes at hand. When leaders fail to explain the industry landscape, employees don't feel the cold winds of competition. Their jobs and paychecks feel secure, but that's an illusion. Good leaders explain that none of ...