* The Dual Engines of Excellence: Why Great Leaders Harness Both Competition and Complementarity

The mark of exceptional leadership isn’t choosing between these forces—but mastering their dance.

We glorify competition in business, yet overlook its quieter twin: complementarity. Though seemingly divergent, these "Two C’s" are hallmarks of visionary leadership when balanced artfully.

The Virtue of Positive Competition

True competition isn’t about deceit or ethical compromise. At its best, it:

·         Ignites excellence by rewarding teams who push boundaries

·         Uncovers hidden leaders through meritocratic recognition

·         Elevates entire industries as rivals innovate to capture markets

As Dr. T.P. Chia observed:

“We live in a world competitive in spirit and action. We pay a heavy price for being uncompetitive.”

Without healthy rivalry, customers settle for mediocrity. Innovation stagnates. Profits wither. Competition isn’t just virtuous—it’s oxygen for progress.

The Hidden Power of Complementarity

Yet fixation on "winning" blinds us to a deeper truth: Rivals often complete each other.
In our reality-TV culture obsessed with fault-finding, we ignore how:

·         Competing products serve the same customers at different moments

·         "Losing" ideas seed future breakthroughs for "winners"

·         Industry ecosystems thrive on symbiotic relationships

Like free verse in poetry or polyphony in music, complementarity creates richer harmony than solo performance ever could.

The Leader’s Crucible

This is where exceptional leaders shine:
They don’t discard "defeated" talent—they mine their latent value.
They don’t dine only with victors—they break bread with complementary forces.

Why? Because:

·         Teams that lose today may hold tomorrow’s winning insight

·         "Second place" fuels the hunger that drives collective evolution

·         True innovation emerges from collisions of competing visions

As one philosopher noted:

“I wasn’t born to follow. I wasn’t born to lead. I was born to fight my way through life—and win.”

The wisest leaders know: Winning isn’t vanquishing rivals—it’s orchestrating their strengths.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Becoming Victims of a Single Fictional Narrative (part 2)

Image
The Stolen Narrative: Reclaiming Africa's Soul Our Buried Inheritance Ethiopia—and Africa—possess a  living tapestry  of history: ancestral wisdom in 3,000 tongues, cultures deeper than soil, unity forged through millennia, and pride in the melanin that maps our genesis. These are not relics, but  birthrights . Yet they were  deliberately fractured —not for being too vast, but too unifying. Colonial architects knew: united cultures resist exploitation. The Generation of Lost Stories 70% of Africa is youth (20-35) but 100% were robbed of their roots. Our elders’ truths were silenced by political puppets branding historians "tribalists" or "backward." Western-curated textbooks replaced oral epics. Youth learned  distortion as doctrine : ·    Diversity became division ·          Kinship became suspicion ·          Shared land became "stolen"territory The Weapon...
Read more

Silencing the Empty Viral Shriek in Unison

Image
The Neocolonial Blueprint: Coercion, Collapse, and Collective Defiance Economic Warfare as Policy: From their self-appointed "Central Command," Western powers steer the global ship by force. Economic sanctions are not tools of justice—they are  scalpels  deliberately wielded to cripple vulnerable nations. Starvation becomes strategy. Debt becomes bondage. The result? Sovereign economies bled dry to ensure compliance. Regime Change by Design: Neocolonialists don’t negotiate—they  engineer  chaos: ·          Coups  as corporate takeovers (Guinea, Congo), ·          Conflicts  as profit ventures (Libya, Ethiopia), ·          Isolation  as prelude to predation: singling out nations like wounded prey to be devoured by sanctions and slander. The Unbearable Calculus: Enough.  Africa and the Global South now see the equation clearly: ...
Read more

Menelik II and the Devil’s Device: A Tale of Innovation and Resistance

Image
Menelik II remains one of the most beloved emperors in Ethiopian history—not only for his military triumphs, but for his groundbreaking efforts to modernize the country. He opened the door to technological advancement and enacted numerous reforms that were far ahead of his time. Yet, these efforts did not come without fierce resistance and harsh criticism, much of it from within his own circles. Among the many innovations introduced during his reign, the arrival of the telephone stands out—not just for its novelty, but for the controversy it sparked. This seemingly magical device became a source of both awe and alarm, especially among conservative elements of society, including the clergy. The humorous yet telling confrontations between the visionary emperor and those who opposed his modern reforms are at the heart of this story. According to legendary Ethiopian journalist P’awlos ňo ňo in his book As’e Menelik ( Emperor Menelik ), and noted historian Tekle Tsadik Mekuria in As...
Read more