Rising above the competition

By Rhonda Campbell

Photo by Keith Allison

“Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt is quoted as saying. To compete, you have to go after something with all your heart, have a keen focus, refuse to turn back. You also have to be ready to take criticism, stand up beneath uncomfortable heat.

In the sports world, no other athlete has done this like Ohio’s LeBron James. Not clutch. Afraid of the big moment. Not aggressive enough. Shows up small on the big stage. These are just a few criticisms thrown at LeBron James. But, LeBron always wanted to win. He always wanted what he’s now receiving, NBA Championships.

His humble beginnings, combined with the relentless criticisms he stood up to, make LeBron James a true sports champion. After all, it’s easier to win amid cheers than it is to be forced to dig deep within, getting inner lift, in the face of boos, hearsay, doubts and the most unkind heat.

It’s this same fervor, commitment, focus and drive to excel above the competition that’s required of you if you truly want to succeed in business. It’s just the way it goes. The Telegraph reports that Apple’s Steve Jobs was criticized for the iPhone, stating that, “Jobs was subjected to an onslaught of criticism over the apparent technical glitches of the iPhone 4, including reception problems and discolouration of the screen.”

For collaborating on a television series with Tyler Perry, bringing Perry’s “The Have and the Have Nots” to OWN, a critic said that Oprah Winfrey “has apparently lost her mind.” It might have been a rare criticism for Oprah Winfrey, but certainly not for Tyler Perry who has endured his share of criticisms since his stage plays, television shows and major motion pictures have garnered increasing success.

One book publisher had this to say about J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, “Children just aren’t interested in witches and wizards anymore.” A bank president, trying to entice Henry Ford’s attorney not to invest in Ford’s new motor company, said, “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad.”

As some have said, criticism is the price you pay to rise above the competition, the price of significant success, the type of success that demands other people’s attention. Community, business, social, educational, scientific, athletic and spiritual leaders faced criticisms. The key is to want success so passionately that you keep advancing despite the noise around you.

The louder the environment, the economy, relatives and naysayers bark, the louder you have to roar. In time, the criticisms you stood up beneath will become the criticisms you stomp on, rising above them, exposing them for the untruths that they always were. In the wake of your advancing success, you’ll inspire countless others, people who, just like you, are feeling the weight, the pressure, the heat, of criticisms. This is when your success, as it inspires and propels others forward, yields its greatest reward.