This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on March 14 - 20, 2016.

“A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.” — Ovid

I watched a movie recently. It was about how our national football team competed for a place in the 1980 Olympic Games. I saw resilience, competitive fire and cooperation in the eyes of the actors who portrayed our heroes of that bygone era.

I followed their losses and victories on screen, and it was all so believable. And I teared up a little when I saw people from all walks of life rooting for “their” team, “their” victory. Yes, competition, as portrayed in the movie, united a nation.

Our nation, we are told, is a competitive one — and that is good. We pride ourselves in competing with, and doing better than, bigger and more established economies around the world. We are constantly ranked in the top 20 most competitive nations in the world.

IMD, the renowned business school on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland, ranked us 14th among the 61 most competitive economies they studied last year. We bested countries such as the Netherlands (15th), Australia (18th) and even the UK (19th) in the rankings that were dominated by the usual suspects — the US (first), Singapore (third) and Germany (10th). But we are down two places from 12th in 2014.

Although rankings such as these are, at best, indicative and, at worse, controversial, they, nonetheless, provide a setting within which proactive governments measure their nations’ economic progress against the successes of those they consider their peers.

Pitted against one another on a yearly basis, using well-documented methodologies, nations can then look at the gaps they need to fill in order to better serve their people, improve their business environment and attract and retain investments.

Competition makes the world go round. Competition is special. It has a danger and excitement all its own. And it unites. It is a major engine of human evolution and it prompts innovation and in modern times, drives global markets and puts money in the pocket.

In olden times, ancient Greeks celebrated competition in the gymnasium — it was the centre of Greek life. Men trained athletically and came together to compete and argue ideas; through contests and challenges their ideas evolved. They played dice, marbles and checkers, all very seriously. They held the Olympic Games, Isthmian Games and Heraea Games for women.

The virtue of competing all the time was that it honed a person’s mind and body. The ultimate goal was to achieve something the Greeks called “Arete”. Today, we may see English translations of “Aretas” as “excellence”. However, that is just a fraction of its significance.

In the Homeric age, to describe someone as having “Arete” was to say that he had competitive fire. According to historian J E Lendon, competition was the outlet for all other virtues — courage, loyalty, trustworthiness. “Arete” was something that the gods had and mere mortals sought to achieve.

Still, there are those who argue that competition is a source of evil. They see competition in terms of destructiveness. They assert that competition inherently kills off more pro-social behaviours such as cooperation and respect.

I beg to differ. To compete, opponents have to cooperate on the rules; there is a mutual agreement of cooperation that governs the competition. Also, competitions are commonly among teams; each individual needs to cooperate with team members in order to compete effectively. Healthy competition cannot happen without cooperation. In fact, science has proved that the hormones that drive us to compete are the same hormones that drive us to collaborate.

I admit, competitions do occasionally bring out the worst in people. But bad behaviour is never a long-term strategy for competitive success. No one wants to play with the boy who steals all their toys. You don’t get repeat customers if you rip people off or make them sick.

Bad behaviour leads to isolation; no one wants to work with someone she can’t trust. Furthermore, competitors who spend their time cheating their way to a victory do not develop the necessary skills to win on their merits. Again, cheating is a short-term strategy. It does not make a winner over the long haul.

The ancient Greeks did not fear that competition bred immoral behaviour. They believed that competition taught moral behaviour. Only by competing could people come to attain the full nobility of the human spirit. In simplest terms, they learnt to fight fair with honour and mutual respect for their opponents. “Arete” meant that competing had shaped you into a better person; competition challenged you to become the best you can be.

To win, we are told, we must practise. But practising is not the same as competing. Many sportsmen practise, yet do not win. You can kick a ball into the net a thousand times, but how do you respond when you see six mean-looking defenders coming at you from the goalposts?

Practising the piano may develop finger dexterity, but that alone will not remedy the sick twisting in your stomach the first time you are in front of an audience.

To be successful, I posit, you must be able to perform when it counts. You have to be able to handle the pressure. You must not wilt in competition.

The inescapable conclusion is that years and years of practice are not automatically enough. In addition to the deliberate practice, success also depends on how well we all compete. It hinges on how well we handle stress, manage it and even harness it. It depends on how well we unite to achieve a common goal.

In these trying times when major commodity prices are trending south, currency values are volatile and socioeconomic changes are rife, we, Malaysians, need to gird ourselves, take a step back and really plan for the immediate future. After all, Vision 2020, when we aim to become a developed nation, is a mere four years away.

We need to find our “Arete”, and find it quickly. There is such a need to improve governance and the welfare of our fellow Malaysians, for us to continually be competitive. We need to progress, to move forward or we risk being left behind, below the 14th place we currently occupy. Then, maybe, our children’s children will sing paeans in honour of our glory, of us finding our Malaysian “Arete”.

Zakie Shariff is co-founder of hCap Associates, a talent search company

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