When it comes to business strategy, there are basically two camps: those who view the competitors as adversaries to be conquered at any cost, and those who regard them as "lever" in their efforts to become better. Usually, it depends on what attitude you have to deal with. If you face executives who look for business advice in Sun Tzu's "The art of war" or even Machiavelli's "The Prince" it is difficult to avoid the "battle", but in every other case it is worth to try it.
To be honest, I'm getting really tired of the "business as war" approach; I'm sick of hearing about the market as a battlefield, competitors as enemies who should be killed and employees as foot soldiers. War is a terrible metaphor for business. It locks a company into an adversarial approach in which almost everyone becomes an enemy. It means spending time looking for ways to defeat your enemies, rather than making your own business great. It leads to zero-sum thinking, in which others have to lose, in order for you to win.
The way, I see it, the healthy approach to business is about creating value for your customers and promoting your vision. I believe that this way of doing business is simply an expression of love. Is love too soft a concept to use in business? We're not talking about romantic love here or the love that exists within families. We're talking about something more akin to brotherly. Love as a total commitment to helping others realize their full potential. It's the realization that your happiness is tied to other people's happiness. It's a conviction that we can usually trust each other in business, that we work more effectively together than alone and that business goes better when you're doing something that makes a positive difference in the world.
When love (and not war) is your driving force:
Your work has meaning and relevance beyond your own personal needs and desires.
Your focus is on creating and contributing, not on destroying.
Your attention is on your...