The Kubler-Ross model of grief:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
Surprisingly, this is the same path to subordination that companies take when dealing with competitive innovation.
- Denial – “This isn’t a viable threat.”
- Anger – “How dare they?” “How did this happen?”
- Bargaining – “I need protection from this threat, how much will it cost?”
- Depression – “The sky is falling!” “They will destroy everything!”
- Acceptance – “We are happy to announce our partnership with them.” “I for one, welcome our new innovative leaders.”
Good leaders don’t focus on the uncontrollable externals, their real competition is internal, and they ask everyday, “how can we be better today than yesterday?” without being distracted by the score (market share, magic quadrants, stock prices, etc.) because the score is a short-term measurement; it is the difference between caring what your 40 yard dash time is while in the middle of running a marathon. This leads to near-sighted strategies that protect your score but keep you from doing what got you there in the first place (like the prevent defense) and serve only to set you up to be vulnerable to those who are focused on competing with themselves.
Letting the score take care of itself is the best way to avoid the stages of competitive grief.