Love thy competitor! (And it wouldn't hurt to say nice things about them either)

An interview clip featuring an interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer giving his impressions on the Apple iPhone announcement has been generating a lot of buzz over the weekend. Many people who viewed the clip felt that Ballmer was "laughing at" Apple's latest product announcement. It was not really what he said (although there were some arguably misleading statements), but the way he responded (with a laugh) that to some came across as dismissive and disrespectful of a competitor (and in some cases a partner). Some felt the laughter, misleading comments, and dismissive tone were a case of "whistling in the dark." Other's felt it was a sign of either over confidence or fear. Of course, others felt his comments were fair and balanced and that the iPhone is indeed too expensive, etc. (Steve Ballmer comments on the iPhone in video below).

Should you say "nice things" about competitors?
I didn't find Steve Ballmer's response particularly egregious, though he did work hard to avoid talking about the company from Cupertino. I think his smile/laugh and other nonverbals were a sign of some discomfort with the question. Frankly, Ballmer reacted pretty much like I expected him to. I've become quite used to his talks about "capable products," and Microsoft's "agenda for driving synergy and unique innovations," etc. Nonetheless, I would have been flat-out blown away and quite impressed indeed if he had been complimentary of Apple instead of answering the question about the iPhone with a laugh about the price followed quickly by a commercial for Microsoft strategy. But it is the reaction to Ballmer's comments that I find so fascinating. It is the big response to Steve Ballmer's little comments got me thinking: Should you say "nice things" about competitors?

Good bloggers are like good presenters
I have said before that good presenting has many things in common with good blogging. The bloggers and corporate blogs, for example, that we trust are the ones that are not afraid to be "linky" and in fact often link to their competition or similar blogs, etc. Good bloggers operate from an "abundance mentality" rather than a "scarcity mentality." They are more concerned with being linky than being sticky. Readers trust a blog that happily points them to other cool and useful sites. Likewise, people respect someone who has enough confidence in themselves that they are not afraid to introduce you to others who are perhaps even more talented than themselves. Former Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble included this idea in his Corporate Blogging Manifesto:

"Link to your competitors and say nice things about them. Remember, you're part of an industry and if the entire industry gets bigger, you'll probably win more than your fair share of business and you'll get bigger too. Be better than your competitors -- people remember that. I remember sending lots of customers over to the camera shop that competed with me and many of those folks came back to me and said 'I'd rather buy it from you, can you get me that?'"                  
                                            — Robert Scoble

By putting a human face on the company, Robert did much to make Microsoft seem "less evil" in his three years with the company. Although he was a Microsoft employee and used and even loved many of its products, he also criticized the company and often praised its rivals. To many this made him more trustworthy that Bill, Steve B. or the Microsoft PR machine.

What about presentations?
How about in a presentation situation? If, for example, you admire a similar product from the competition, should you not say so if asked? If not, why not? If you flat out dismiss the competitor's product no one really believes you anyway as they realize you have a very obvious conflict of interest. However, if you can compliment the competition and be completely respectful of them, doesn't that give you more credibility when you later go on to say why your product/service absolutely kicks butt? Isn't it our job to explain how our product/service (or research results, etc.) is different and great on its own merits? I am not saying you should go out of your way to glorify the accomplishments of your competitor, but if the issue comes up in a live presentation, I personally have much more respect for the presenter who speaks in a tone that is respectful of the competitor.

Tom Peters: Loving your enemy is good business
Tom Peters had a great post in December about this very same issue. Tom's point? It's simply good business to embrace the competition and to help others in your field succeed:

"I think that when one badmouths one's competitors or tries to limit their activities, the 'word gets around.' And one develops a reputation as prickly and egocentric—and, well, as a selfish jerk."    
                                                 — Tom Peters

Management guru Tom Asaker took a little different take on this. Asaker said that the truly successful ones are too busy focusing on their own customers and products to even care much about the competition including "bad mouthing" them:

"The word competition literally means, 'seeking together,' and 'choosing to run in the same race.' Great people and great brands don't care about their competitors. They don't define themselves by competitive movements. They are simply not on the same track (mentally)."                           
                                                   — Tom Asacker

Japanese culture and humility
Many of the ideals of the way of the Samurai or Bushido (way of the warrior) are still very much a part of Japanese culture today. Yes, there are egotistical business people in Japan just as anywhere else, but it is generally considered very bad form to speak disparagingly about your competition or rivals. Good advice for presenting in Japan — and I think it applies globally — is not to speak ill of your competitor in a public forum. Perhaps you could get away with this if you are already well known and trusted, but if you are new and still in "the trust me phase," verbally disrespecting your rivals is a red flag for those evaluating your potential as a partner.

A dose of humility goes a long way
Only the ignoble (and foolish) man would disrespect an opponent, let alone publicly disrespect one's rival or competitor. If one bad mouths a competitor in Japan they shame not only themselves but the group to which they belong. One who speaks poorly of others is not to be trusted. Speaking ill of a competitor, especially a smaller one who may not (yet) be at your level, shows a lack of humility. A wise man (or woman) knows that "ten thousand things become my teacher." We can learn from anyone or anything if our eyes are not clouded by pride, arrogance, or fear. Once we think we have arrived, the old saying goes, we have already begun our descent to failure. Humility keeps us aware and grounded in the real world. Tenets of humility include respect, politeness, compassion, self-discipline, etc. When one remembers that there is no end to mastery — that one can and must be better the next day and the day after that (and the day after that) — then it is foolish indeed to ever look down one's nose to anyone, especially our rivals. Ultimately, the real rival is within us anyway.

Update: Yes, this goes for Apple too
My aim in pointing to the Steve Ballmer video was not to get into a whole Apple vs. MS thing, nor was my point really to criticize Ballmer (as if he were somehow the only CEO to dismiss the competition). My main point was to suggest rather that it is far better if we, in a similar situation, respond differently.

And yes, Steve Jobs (and other Apple execs) have recently taken some pretty good verbal jabs at Microsoft (e.g., ’06 Developers Conference). Those jabs play well to many in the Mac community, but I personally would rather they not make fun of Vista, Zune , etc. publicly. You could say that it is OK for them because they after all are the "David" to Microsoft's "Goliath." Apple is just a very odd company (mostly in a good way) and its products have a way of making users evangelical supporters. I mean what other tech company has attractive young women singing love songs for their products and putting them on YouTube? Nonetheless, I think keeping to the high road is always a good rule of thumb. The problem with Apple is that they may respect Microsoft's business expertise but do not respect Microsoft's ability to make insanely great products (see this older video for example). Maybe Jobs can simply remember what all our mother's told us: If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, say nothing at all. That's one I have to remember too.

Comments

[Sriram Krishnan]

And when was the last time you saw Steve Jobs *not* bad-mouth Microsoft? :)

[ssp]

I fully agree on your points. Particularly online 'news' sources often fail to link to the obvious sites that are relevant for what they are writing about. Sure, I can Google those places in a few seconds but it always makes me wonder why they don't link there. Aren't they writing for my convenience? Do they perhaps have nothing to say beyond the press release they are writing about? Do they fear I won't come back?

Particularly the online outlets of bigger newspapers and media can be really bad at this.

I'm also with Sriram when it comes to Mr Jobs. The whole MS bashing we saw in the past years may have been a good chuckle but it always seems lame and childish at the same time.

[Rowan Manahan]

I agree - badmouthing, particularly badmouthing on the basis of conjecture, makes you look insecure and over-reactive. Journalists stir up a lot of this sort of crap - competition between bands or movie stars or whatever - to appear controversial and to sell their show or paper.

Given human nature, you are likely to get a bell curve of response. A small number of people at each end of the curve whose already hard-and-fast opinion is reinforced by whatever you say and a big wodge of people in the middle who are either mildly irritated or plain just don't care what you say in repsonse to questions like that.

On this one, I think Ballmer's laugh and mock-incredulous tone were a mistake. He looked a little sweaty to me. Plus his qualifying of the market data for the Zune sounded very 'iffy'.

A smarter, and more dignified, move would have been to say, "Currently, we sell a lot of phones and they sell a lot of iPods. We can talk about this til the cows come home, but at the end of the day - talk is cheap. I'm confident that Microsoft is doing the right thing and the smart thing in these markets. I'm sure if Steve Jobs was here, he'd be telling you exactly the same thing. Either one of us is dead wrong or we're both somewhat right. Time will tell ...

[Berkana]

Certainly Steve Ballmer's behavior showed him to be childish in that he wouldn't even acknowledge the iPhone for the impact it made, nor its ground breaking aesthetics, but as long as you are talking about respecting one's competitor and not bad-mouthing him, what do you make of Apple's recent "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads and their intel chip ads calling the tasks in a PC "dull/boring"?

[Berkana]

Ballmer is really hard to admire, and it is mostly by his own doing. His ridiculous antics with his "monkey dance" and hollering, and his "developers! developers! developers! developers!" rant (while sweating like a pig) were totally unprofessional and unbecoming of a CEO. Even if he made good points, in this video, he just comes across as a jealous jerk who can't stand Apple doing well.

[Matt James]

I have to agree with some of the others -- you make very good points in your post and it's overall an excellent read. The only thing that is somewhat skewed (and this is saying something coming from an Apple zealot such as myself) was that you made MS out to be the bad guy. I think it would have been more appropriate to point out that either side of that relationship has bad things to say about the other, which is quite strange since they are partners with the Mac business unit, etc. I often find myself making excuses for Apple when in conversation for others; a habit I'm trying to break as it more than likely influences my credibility to those with whom I am speaking (similar to what you just pointed out in your post). Perhaps it is worth mentioning that Jobs likes to run his mouth about MS as well, and in far more humiliating language.

[Geedeon]

Your analysis actually also applies to the way a lot of politicians behave: constantly bashing each other. It seems to be the default attitude: "if speaker is not from my side, then bash him, regardless of whether he/she has good points. Plus, don't even mention he/she has good points".

In the end, it is probably one of the reasons why people (myself, at least) have hard times trusting politicians.

Different context, same behavior, same results.

[AL]

Regardless of the fact that both companies are shooting at eachother through their CEOs and other means, I think Garr makes a very valid and clear point about the goodness that comes from respecting your competitor. My favourite example of this is the recent interview Robert Scoble has made with Sun's CEO Jonathon. When asked, Jonathon praises the iPhone, even stating that he's getting one, but then goes on to reason in a very professional way how iPhone has dropped the ball by locking the iPhone from third-party developers.

[Simon]

Whenever you compare the presentation style of Microsoft and Apple, I have to think about this older video which really makes the point with a few words and really great pictures. Just in case you do not know it yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0

Simon

[Bryan Wilhite]

The Japanese ideal of not speaking ill of a competitor can also be supported by the hard reality of a Japanese imperial/military situation. You do not want to warn your opponent of when you are about to attack so it is an error to send signals of disrespect. This is called "guile."

The irony then is that non-warlike people appear so violent and stupid because they have no tactical reason NOT to recognize errors and what is incorrect.

[John Windsor]

"Not speaking ill of your competitors in public" reminds me of an experience I had in France several years ago.

Just before a major tradeshow opened, we got a terrific mention from a respected business publication in Paris. In fact, our service was highlighted over our two biggest rivals.

Since we were the up-and-comer, with but a small booth (compared to our rivals' mega-booths), I got the idea of reproducing the review on a 10'x10' panel and making that the centerpiece of our booth. Hey, in America, that would be considered plucky marketing.

But I knew I wasn't in America, so I asked my French colleagues four times if it would be okay to do this. None of them said "No" (though perhaps I should have taken a cue from their uncertainty).

So we did it — and the people coming to the booth seemed to like it. But our competitors were FURIOUS and nearly had us thrown out of the show.

It wasn't that the review said these other guys were bad, it just painted our service in a stronger light. But, apparently, that wasn't the proper way to do business in France . . .

Punchline: Be very careful when you mention your competitors. :-)

[Adrian]

Thanks for the update, as soon as I saw Ballmer's dome I knew this would be another slam at Microsoft, which has gotten pretty old

[Ben Last]

In Japan "...it is generally considered very bad form to speak despairingly about your competition or rivals...".

I guess you mean "disparagingly"? "Despairingly" would probably not give the best impression either...
:)

[Mike Peter Reed]

I thought Steve Jobs was an orphan? So how could he hear his mother say that?

And it's Jack Trout as one of many who postulates frequently that growing the size of the pie is just as beneficial as growing the size of your slice.

[John Dodds]

I think the issue is not actually about whether or not you talk about your competition - it's about avoiding the appearance of arrogance.

Self-confidence is attractive while arrogance speaks of lack of self-awareness and is not. When I was told about this incident some days ago, the issue was not so much what was said but how it was said and the reaction of the person who told me about this was "why do they let a guy like this represent their company?"

[Rafa]

I completely disagree with the comments of Tom Asaker. Great business don't care about competition? Yeah, sure, that'a why Univac doesn't exist anymore.

It's true that you shouldn't base your own business, products and services *only* in what your competitors do, but completely ignoring them is a nonsense -- and a lot of pride and arrogancy.

[Coorboind]

I'm new here, just wanted to say hello and introduce myself.