We all say we compete to win.  But really, many of us just compete to compete.  Winning is a lot less important than following "the rules."  But in much of life, the rules are designed to favor the current winner. To win, you have to find a way to compete differently.

Athletes have set rules to play by.  And when they violate those rules, fouls are called.  We like to think real world competition is the same.  But there are actually a lot less rules in most worldly competitions – it’s not nearly as cut and dried as a sport.  As a result there are lots of opportunities to change how you compete, in effect doing different or new things.  And savvy competitors, Phoenix competitors, realize that is the easiest, fastest and best way to win.  They don’t fixate on doing things the way everyone else does it.  Instead they look for a new way to compete that can unseat the entrenched way of behaving.

Over the last 18 months Americans watched this be applied in the Democratic presidential nomination process.  Senator Hillary Clinton entered the competition as the clear front-runner.  She had access to all the party elders, all the influencers and all the money raisers.  She had all the traditional advantages of not only name recognition and awareness, but having the party apparatus primed to support her.  Given this advantage, she was clearly going to be hard to unseat.  She had the traditional Democratic party machine ready to work for her in big states like California, Massachusetts and New York.  And all the traditional competitors that tried to beat her in the nominating process by competing in the traditional way were eliminated.

But Senator Barack Obama followed a typical Phoenix Principle campaign – and beat Senator Clinton.  He eschewed trying to work the traditional tools of competition, and instead developed a different approach.  He didn’t try to do "more, better, faster, cheaper" of the leader.  He instead used typical Phoenix Principle approach that allowed him to win – even though it upset the classical competitor to no end.

1. He focused on the future, not the past.  Rather than talking about how great things were in some previous era – such as when Democrats last held the Presidency – he focused on a scenario of the future.  His scenarios demonstrated a connection with trends in the USA and globally.  Constantly focusing on the future, he pushed voters to think about how to achieve future goals – rather than how to return to traditional ways of competing.  He didn’t talk about how to get from today to the future, he talked about designing a future then developing a backward plan to reach that future.
2. He focused on his competitors rather than his customers.  He did what they could not, or would not, given their primary constituency.  While conventional wisdom said to focus on older people because they vote in higher percentages, he realized that voting group was Locked-in to traditional candidates and he focused on the overlooked younger voters.  He promoted voter registration and being their advocate.  He spent little time with old-line union bosses, because unions represent a far less powerful constituency than in the time of Franklin Roosevelt – or even Jimmy Carter. While the traditional competitors focused on traditional financing tools, such as reaching out to lobbyist groups and PACs, he focused his fundraising on the internet where competitors were less willing to depend. They were used to trading influence for money – and unsure that traditional donors would appreciate them raising large sums nontraditionally thus weakening their need to aid the donors. He focused less on his customers – the traditional Democratic voter – and instead focused on competitors to find their weaknesses and exploit them.
3. He was Disruptive.  He talked about doing things differently.  His primary message was "change."  This meant different things to different people, but at no time did he stop promoting "change."  He talked endlessly about doing things differently – about Disrupting "Washington", lobbyists, corporate America, health care insurers, oil companies.  He never showed fear of Disruption, but instead embraced it as a way to develop a new, better future.
4. He used White Space.  Conventional wisdom said "fight tooth and nail to win primaries in the big states."  Instead, he exploited the caucus system used in many states to win.  His compaign used unconventional techniques to exploit weaknesses in the "mega-message" approach of traditional candidates.  He never tired of finding new, unique places to tell his message – making tremendous use of the internet including YouTube! and other social networking sites.  He did not try to identify with traditional campaign methods, but instead used unconventional as often as possible.  And he talked about bringing White Space projects to Washington – by creating dialogue with enemies currently ignored, and opening doors to change communication between fractured American constituencies.

Although Senator Obama’s compaign was a long shot, it exploited The Phoenix Principle and created an enormous upset.  A very junior candidate – in both age and political experience – he set out to win by doing what had to be done rather than doing what everyone always did.  Rather than being cowered by the huge name recognition, political clout and funding available to Senator Clinton, former Senator Edwards and other candidates he used their Lock-in to his advantage.  He could predict what they would do, and as was pointed out several times on television coverage his campaign leaders uneerily projected his competitors’ performance in every single primary more than a year in advance!  By understanding his competitors so well, by recognizing their Lock-ins, and then using Phoenix Principle practices he came from far behind to win.

And it can work for you too.  Focus on the future, not the past.  Focus on competitors, not customers to gain insight and advantage.  Be Disruptive.  Use White Space to develop new approaches to competition.  That’s competing to win.