One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only
failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. —Abraham Maslow

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote:

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Sun Tzu certainly offers good advice to be heeded. But change leadership is different from war in a very fundamental way—there is no enemy. If you are selling solutions, there are many competitive solutions or “enemies.” But if you are a change agent, the only enemies are your own anxieties. Let’s reformulate Sun Tzu’s famous words for change leadership:

If you focus on being the best change agent you can be, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you focus on being a better change agent than the competitor, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you focus not on being a change agent, but rather on providing the best solution, you will succumb in every battle.

Being an elite change leader is similar to being an elite athlete. Do people like Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, and Michael Phelps set their sights on other people? No, they do not. They are in front—there is no one to follow.
 

Is Tiger Woods the best golfer because all the other golfers are worse than he is? Or is Tiger Woods a great golfer—period? What makes him great? Think about this: Tiger Woods is not great. Tiger Woods’ flawless execution is great.

How does Tiger achieve his flawless execution? Does he walk from hole to hole hoping his competitors’ balls miss the cup? Absolutely not. Tiger wins by making sure his ball goes in the cup. He makes his balls go in the cup by completely focusing on his own execution. He plays every stroke as if it were the game-deciding stroke.

Would you like to be the Tiger Woods of your business? Would you like to be an outstanding achiever at the top of your game? Would you like your customers to chase you with orders instead of you chasing them? This can all happen if you focus on being the best change leader you can be. It is an endless journey of discovery and learning. But it is an incredibly rewarding journey.

Focus on your own execution, not the competition’s execution. Reduce your anxieties by increasing your preparation. “Play” every element of your game as if it meant the difference between winning and losing.