If you’ve read any of my blogs, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I’m a basketball fan.

I’ve already compared Self-Assurance to Shaq and Achiever to Kobe, so today, I’m going back into my hoops bag to talk about Competition.

People with Competition as a talent don’t just want to play the game, they want to win.

Why are some people so driven to win? I wish we knew the exact formula. There’s no shortage of sports cliches that we use to describe that drive for glory.

Some people give 110%. Some teams like to leave it all on the field. Sometimes one competitor is hungrier than the other.

Competition, like all CliftonStrengths talents, has an innate component. There are certainly human beings who have been bigger, strong, and faster naturally than most gold medal winners.

But in sports– to turn talent into a world-class, gold-medal winning strength we probably need to spend Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours level of practice in order to come out on top.

Competition is a bit different

Of all the 34 CliftonStrengths talents, Competition is one of the easiest examples to understand what turning a talent into a strength looks like.

Sometimes winning is subjective, and other times it’s cut and dry. You cross the finish line first, and you’re the champion. Competition can not only be measured, it is typically rewarded.

Our culture actively rewards winning—with trophies, medals, endorsement deals, and very large guaranteed contracts.

Meanwhile, we don’t exactly hand out gold medals for “Best at Woo” or “Most Empathetic.” Not because those talents don’t matter as much. They just aren’t meant to be compared against others in the way that Competition is.

Or, if you think about it another way, they are all talents that help people perform and Competition is the talent that gives us the drive to measure our performance against others.

Competition needs a scoreboard

Before I pound this analogy into the ground, it’s important to be clear that Competition isn’t just about personal achievement.

Competition is an influencing talent. Meaning? You need others to compete with and against in order to thrive. It’s not just about being good. It’s about pulling others toward achievement. It’s about being good, and making sure that your good is better than what you’re up against.

While I like to use sports analogies, it’s possible to have the drive of Competition and be completely sports agnostic.

It’s about wanting to get the best grade in the class. It’s about needing to create the best code. It’s about setting a standard in whatever your team is working on.

Which brings me to Court of Gold, the six-part Netflix documentary about the 2024 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball team.

I would normally say spoiler alert, but the 2024 Summer Olympics were awhile ago.

Team USA won the gold.

But what made this documentary so compelling wasn’t whether this team won gold, it was how they won it. And how that was such a great example of the Competition talent.

Coaching Competition

Steve Kerr is one of the sport of Basketball’s greatest competitors. Currently the coach of the Golden State Warriors, he’s lead the Dubs to 4 NBA titles. As a player, he won multiple championships as a role player with both the Jordan/Pippen Chicago Bulls and the Robinson/Duncan San Antonio Spurs.

And this past summer, he was tasked with leading Team USA’s basketball team as head coach.

Team USA came into the Olympics with arguably it’s most talented roster since the 1992 dream team. Since 1992, Team USA has won the gold medal in 7 of the 8 previous tournaments.

A veteran team was put together with LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, three of the greatest players of their generation.

Sounds like an easy gig, right? Just roll out the ball and let them dominate?

Not quite.

Early in the Court of Gold documentary, we see Kerr sit down with the team and deliver some hard truths, “We have 12 of the best players in the world. I can only realistically play 9.”

Translation? Egos are going to take a hit if we want to win.

Some of the greatest competitors of this generation, players who are used to being the guy, are now being told that their minutes might be limited. Jayson Tatum, fresh off of winning an NBA title with the Boston Celtics, would barely play. Tyrese Haliburton, who had just lead his team to the Eastern Conference Finals, would play only 26 minutes the entire Olympics.

The mission wasn’t about individual stats. The mission was about gold.

Winning at the highest level meant they had to recalibrate what Competition looked like—not as individuals, but as a team. Because basketball is a team sport. To me, it’s the ultimate team sport – especially on the Olympic stage where the world was watching. In Paris. Against France!

Unfortunately YouTube won’t let me embed this link, but if you ever want to experience basketball nirvana you should spend 4+ minutes watching this video of Stephen Curry hitting all of his game clinching threes in slow motion, set to some smooth jazz. Trust me. Even if you don’t care about basketball, it was the epitome of rising to the occasion. The greatest shooter of all time had to do something superhuman to beat a ridiculously talented opponent.

Be the Steve Kerr of Your Team

The behind-the-scenes interviews in Court of Gold show just how deeply wired these players and coaches are to compete. Yes, they wanted to win for their country. Yes, they wanted to win for each other. But most of all? They wanted to win because they are wired to win.

Silver medals are nice, right? 99.99% percent of people would be thrilled to win one in any event. But these athletes and those who lead them dug just a bit deeper than the other team when the moment mattered, and that made all the difference.

If you’re leading a team with Competition, you’re Steve Kerr.

Whether you personally care about winning or not, there are people in your organization who are fueled by Competition—and you need them. Find them. Use them. Let them complement your talents for the good of the team.

For some people, competition isn’t critical when it comes to sports, games, or contests. The older I get, the more I find myself moving to their side.

But in the workplace? Winning can mean growth, career advancement, and making a bigger impact on those you serve.

Team USA is a great example of how you can have an entire team that’s wired for Competition, but you need the right coach to make sure everyone understands that your individual quest for scoring the most points or playing the most minutes may need to take a backseat in order for the team to win.

Want to raise the bar? Find the people who can’t stand to lose. Let them set the pace. Let them push the team forward. Because when channeled correctly, Competition help bring out the best aspects of everyone’s contributing talents.

And sometimes, it’s the difference between silver and gold