Women Learn How to Thrive in Competitive Environments

Kathryn Mayer, founder of K.C. Mayer Consulting, Inc., told women they hold themselves back from career advancement by failing to learn not only how to compete but also how to enjoy it. Before a full room of women executives and managers at AMA’s New York Executive Conference Center on July 21, 2005, Mayer shared the results of her study of successful and powerful women around the world that identified several strategies her audience could use to enjoy competition and competitive relationships and thereby maximize career development.

At “Helping Women Leaders Thrive in Competitive Environments,” Mayer noted how studies show that women place greater value in building relationships with people they like, or with whom they share something in common, than in strategic alliances based on business issues. Mayer observed how women tend to focus on getting things done rather than on the bigger, strategic vision, and how women look at competition as risky, or they see work as a solo pursuit. Uneasy at delegation, women tend to burden themselves with unnecessary and often counterproductive responsibilities and tasks.

According to Mayer, women should change their thinking, focusing on how to use rivalry to bring out their best and to treat their opponent as someone who helps them to develop their skills rather than as an enemy. Mayer pointed to her own experience as a top-ranked amateur tennis player, noting how players develop their own skills by taking on competitors in practice sets. Women leaders need to develop a more strategic vision of their work and use collaboration and teamwork, combined with a healthy desire to win, to make that vision a reality.

Mayer suggested that women seek out a team of advisors or “pacing partners” to coach them. What’s a “pacing partner?” Mayer told the members of her audience that it could be a fellow colleague or a friend, anyone that you openly collaborate with to stimulate your best performance. “The pacing partner needs to be someone whom you feel energized by because he or she is equally talented, similarly educated, has skills that complement or broaden yours or is capable of challenging you, even surpassing you. It could be a friendly competitor or a mentor or sponsor—anyone you can trust and feel comfortable talking to and have fun with”, said Mayer.

As she closed the meeting, Mayer suggested that members of the audience could begin to find pacing partners within the room by networking on the way out. The meeting ended on a high note as business cards were exchanged, and the women leaders in the audience took the first steps toward building a team of advisors, including a pacing partner, who could help them enhance their skills and knowledge—and master competition

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