Irrespective of industry, we are always looking around us to determine where we stand competitively. How do we measure up to other organizations or people in our field?
Competitors
Most obviously, we are always looking at the competition. Who is giving us a run for our money? To whom are we losing a lot of our client base? What can we do about that, either in response or (preferably) proactively? Who do we overlap with, such that they’re a threat to our viability? We can learn so much information from surveying the landscape in this way.
These are the people or organizations that we eye warily. If we are systematic about how we do it, we work to glean as much information as we can. As is the case with competitive nature, to a certain extent our success will come at their expense and vice versa so it is vital, even imperative, that we have a good sense of who our competitors are so we do not accidentally allow them to put us out of business or make us obsolete.
Aspirants
While our competitive spirit is focused inward on how well we can perform, we are also often thinking aspirationally. It is very easy to identify the giants or the superstars in our field. They are always performing exceptionally well, always creative, always successful. We think: Why is that? How can we get there? This helps us set goals and can even help define our vision. Even beyond understanding the competition, it is important to have also a good sense for our aspirants because it can motivate and drive us to greater success.
Peers
This last group is the least glamorous and fun to think about. This is the group that we are part of, the group for which there is some area where we resemble each other closely. It could be on any characteristic, but as is the case with our fraternal peers in the home, we often do not give much thought to this group because we are regularly in touch with them. We suffer from the familiarity effect.
The Overlap between Groups
The most interesting aspect of these groups is the overlap between them. Because our lists are never quite as clean cut as we wish they could be:
Our competitors are often also peers: This is uncomfortable because it is a competition we cannot escape. They are right there all the time so the competition can be fierce. They are in fact rivals.
Our competitors are often also aspirants: They are successful precisely because they are doing something better than we are, and we are striving for that higher level of performance. More often than not, in head-to-head competition they win: They rule over us.
Our aspirants are often also peers: This is also uncomfortable because it is another competition we cannot escape. They are in close proximity to us in some way so it is very easy (unfortunately easy) for the general public to compare us, and we usually will not come out favorably in that comparison. It is why they are our aspirant! They serve as role models.
And sometimes we can see an aspirant that is all three of these! This is a particularly interesting situation because they are our peer: We cannot escape them; and also our competitor: We often lose to them; and also our aspirant: We are actually trying to resemble them more in certain ways so that we can be more successful. Ironically, it is often difficult for us to come to terms with this idea because the intersection of these is so uncomfortable. It is particularly hard to concede that our closest peers are also our biggest competition—we would like to think we far outshine them.
By way of final note, consider a whole other group of organizations or people who are thinking of us in this way, but for whatever reason we do not give them much thought. This is often because we are their aspirant. If we were their competitor, they would also be our competitor (unless we pretty much always win, in which case we would resemble more their aspirant). If we were their peer, they would almost certainly be our peer (again, unless they are completely off our radar, usually for competitive reasons, in which case again we would be more their aspirant). These are our SHADOW institutions, in the sense that they are shadowing us, trying to learn more about and emulate us. Even though they are not really on our radar and we have relegated them, it can often be helpful and insightful to reflect on who might consider us this way. Keeping an eye on their progress can also give us solid ideas about effective growth opportunities, or allow us to deal earlier and in more timely fashion with an emerging competitive threat.
At any rate, when considering these categories, competitor, aspirant, and peer, it can be tempting to look at them hierarchically: aspirants above us, peers next to us, competitors (hopefully) below us. It is unwise to look at them this way. There is flow between them, much like with people: Your biggest competitors are also your peers and friends, not to mention that you often respect and admire them and aspire to be more like them.