Marketing Contributor

Competitive advantage lies in knowledge and skill, in the ability to use one’s skills to get ahead in a competitive environment.

Competitive advantage, in general, is a way to make the most of the knowledge and skills one acquires. It’s the natural result of the way our brains work where our brains are constantly learning and practicing.

This is the first of two questions we ask when we interview people.

People who are “competitors” often know more than those who are “superior”. They are more likely to be better at what they do or are more likely to be a better match for someone else. Superior people are usually the ones who are smarter, more skilled, stronger, or simply more in tune with a situation. They are the ones who know what others are doing.

If you look at it, our brains are constantly learning and practicing. We constantly engage in mental training and are continually learning what is best for us. We are constantly asking which of what we want, which options are good for us, and which ones might be bad.

It’s the same with our skills. The only reason we might be good at something is because we’ve practiced it over a long period of time. Of course, we can practice our skills because we have to! In some cases we have to practice because it’s the best option for our current situation. But in other cases we have to practice because it’s more important to us than anything else.