“From the playing field to the boardroom, when one competitor is clearly the best, the others don’t step up their game—they give up.” So begins Jonah Lehrer’s piece in the Wall Street Journal on what he calls “The Superstar Effect.”
While Lehrer offers some compelling data regarding a decline in competitor 
performance when Tiger Woods is playing, and über-chessmaster Bobby Fischer’s effect on competitors was legendary, the nature of the superstar effect remains opaque and its implications for business leaders even more unclear.The data presented suggests that competing against a superstar such as Tiger Woods or Bobby Fischer causes a drop in the absolute performance of the other competitors. Lehrer’s assertion that lesser competitors essentially give up when faced with nearly certain defeat, however, doesn’t match with the work of Sian Beilock at the University of Chicago—which Lehrer cites in his own article—suggesting the fall-off in performance is due to “choking” under pressure—that is, trying too hard. Understanding whether the observed performance drop off results from people “giving up” or “choking” has huge implications for leaders of all types.
The good news for leaders is that it is pretty easy to tell the difference between your team giving up and choking, so we can coach our teams appropriately. Further, in most business situations we have interactions that are independent of the superstar opponent, making the competition more fluid. A start-up facing an entrenched competitor may face superstar effect odds in a static contest—but the contest isn’t static. The start-up generally has more flexibility in pricing, the offering, and support because the entrenched competitor has to be wary of setting a precedent with its other customers. Unless you are selling a pure commodity, each competition is slightly different as well. Because of this flexibility, business leaders have more tools with which to confront superstar competitors.
On the flip side for market leaders, the message is to create as much dominance as you legally can. The superstar effect increases with greater dominance, creating unnatural barriers that your competitors must overcome. Admittedly some effects, like the safety of going with a market leader, are little impacted by competitor behavior, but anything that either demoralizes or causes your competitors to push too hard works to your advantage. Your goal is to make everyone play to your strengths.
Whether you are an upstart competitor or the entrenched market leader, understanding that going up against the best doesn’t always lead others to perform their best is an important dynamic for leaders to keep in mind. However, unlike PGA golfers facing Tiger Woods or chessmasters who had to face Bobby Fischer at his peak, as business leaders you have the advantage of being able to shape the competitive space in ways that superstars competitors like Tiger Woods cannot. If you’re an upstart, it doesn’t make it easy, but it improves your odds to the point where the superstar effect is diminished. Invisibility is fragile. If you’re the superstar, now is not the time to let up as there is a compelling reason to always play your very best.
Tags: competitor, performance, superstar, wall street journal