First of all, I have to come completely clean. This is one of those columns written while I sit in the midst of “Football Night in America.” I am watching the recently “hapless” New Orleans Saints pummel the formerly “dominant” Seattle Seahawks. And I’m starting to regret the league’s noble push for talent parity in professional football. I mean, geez, even my Cleveland Browns are 3-3 going into the bye week, when they were easily one of the preseason picks to be winless by Week 6.
I know there are a lot of legitimate reasons for doing it (first among them being that it makes the league more money when everybody’s in the hunt, of course), but I’m kind of missing the dynasties — the teams that everyone could aspire to. Week after week, they would display a level of excellence that all the other teams could measure themselves against — and take aim at. Today, it’s almost impossible to be strong in every phase of the game, and many more teams are missing large pieces of the puzzle than have it all together.
Competition — that is, competition at a high level — can serve to make everyone better. It’s true in sports and it’s true in business. Doing battle with businesses and individuals with the same quality standards as your own ends up forcing you to be a better manager.
I got an interesting perspective on this from a grower named Clay Mitchell, who spoke at a luncheon we hosted this past summer. He talked about farming as a true “practice,” something that you work at to improve day after day, year after year. Mitchell added GPS steering to his farm in 2000, and every year since, he’s added on something more to improve accuracy and agronomy.
In his talk, he related it to an ultramarathon performance since the sport’s inception in the 1980s. In the early years of the sport, the initial finish times set by what were considered as some of the greatest endurance athletes in the world were figured to be insurmountable, but others with innovative personal training regimens came along and have shaved more than one hour off those early times. Practice leads to innovation, and innovation to improvement.
Competition against like-minded businesses is a great way to stay sharp and grow. But even when you don’t have the level of competition out there with other retailers, you might be able to create some level of friendly competition within your business. Maybe it’s about sales goals, or safety records, or acres applied — anything measurable. Competition breeds success.
If you’re short of ideas, it might be a good time to book a December trip to Las Vegas. This year’s annual Agricultural Retailers Association’s conference features a broad range of educational sessions and will draw some of the best and most innovative retailers from across the country. Perhaps you attended six or seven years ago and didn’t get much out of it. I can tell you — the association and the event have made tremendous progress, and if you go there ready to learn and improve, you won’t be disappointed. Check out www.aradc.org for details.
Well, I just heard that in the Bowl Championship Series rankings, South Florida is no. 2, right below our The Ohio State Buckeyes. Parity (read: mediocrity) is apparently contagious! Here’s hoping you can find a way to turn your business into a true dynasty.
