very competitive environment.
This is because reptiles, birds, human beings and fish compete to catch bass fish.
Their methods of fishing are not exactly the same but the goal is similar. Each species tries to create a space to hunt in the dam either by disadvantaging the other or by finding where it is relatively convenient to maximise its capabilities.
At times all the hunters (i.e. reptiles, birds and human beings) can catch fish in the dam on the same day and the opposite can also happen.
Below are a few examples of the methods used by reptiles and birds to catch fish.
A crocodile is an example of a predator, which hunts for fish. It does not just attack but studies the behaviour and movements of its prey over a period of time relative to its strengths and weaknesses.
A crocodile can lie in muddy water and pretend to be a dead log for a period of up to a day.
If not sure about its prey, a crocodile can appear to release its prey and when the prey thinks that it has been released the reptile will quickly tighten its grip and kill it.
A crocodile’s strength lies in the water and therefore a crocodile will try to drive its prey into water.
However, a crocodile can also attack prey on land especially near the river. A crocodile can wait for its prey for weeks without breaks for food.
Another predator is a water python. A water python’s colours attract its prey.
The fascination with the colours of the python makes the prey immobile.
The python will in the meantime be moving towards and encircling its prey. The process can be long because the prey must not see or suspect that the python is moving.
When the python nears its prey it attacks by suffocating and crushing the bones of the prey.
A fish eagle brings a new dimension to fishing. The fish eagle can spot its prey from a distance.
It will study its prey for a long time before deciding to attack. The fish eagle’s attack is swift and precise.
In essence, the fish eagle spends close to 99 percent of its time planning and only 1 percent is left for execution.
A duck is another master of deception. It appears still in water while its legs are busy swimming until it gets to its intended target.
Even the fish competes with human beings to catch other fish. Predators such as tiger, robuster, bass and catfish compete very well in this category.
This implies that for each species to catch fish it has to compete using its core competencies and not the strength of the competitor.
For instance, a duck cannot compete using the tactics of a fish eagle, it will fail dismally. No competitor can hope to succeed by playing to the strength of the competitor.
This therefore means the journey to excellence begins by understanding your areas of competencies.
Competing requires a full awareness of one’s weaknesses and strength. Of particular importance is how one can leverage on his strength to outperform his competitors.
The first rule of competition is know yourself. This implies understanding your strength and weaknesses. The second rule of competition is know your enemies.
This also entails knowing the strength and weaknesses of your competitor with the view to leverage on the competitor’s weaknesses.
Most fishermen are tempted to kill or shoot at the adversaries on sight. If a fisherman sees a crocodile, duck or a python, what comes to his mind is how he can quickly exterminate it.
This is either due to the danger posed by these predators or possessive nature of human beings.
Is this the correct way a fisherman can co-exist with his adversaries?
The most important issue to the fisherman is to catch bass fish.
It is not very important for him to eradicate all potential sources of competition so that he could catch fish.
He could co-exist with competitors and still get his share of the market provided he is fishing properly. In any case creating a monopolistic firm in most cases is against the laws of most countries as it is against the principles of fair trading. Competition is encouraged in most industries because it brings about innovation ,efficiency and effectiveness.
Competition is healthy because it brings about the best out of individuals.
Does extermination totally eradicate the threat of competition?
Trying to get rid of all competition in a dam is not an achievable goal. Reducing competition is possible but total eradication of all competition is impossible and not practical even if the government puts up legislation to protect certain industries.
In today’s market place, the state monopolies are suffering from new entrants in the form of foreign industries, for instance Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation is now competing directly with pirated SABC and DStv (the satellite station ).
The same can be said of TelOne which is limping while its competitors such as NetOne ,Econet and Telecel are creaming the market.
This implies that protectionism is not a sustainable strategy in the long run.

Is competition totally bad?
I agree that competitors such as pythons and crocodiles pose a threat to the fisherman.
Once in a while fishermen have been killed by these predators. Is it correct for fisherman to think only in terms of exterminating these dangerous reptiles?
Is this type of obsession correct?
Is there anything a fisherman can learn from these reptiles?
A fisherman (in a correct mindset) can learn something positive from the adversaries.
The recommended path is to acknowledge first that there is something one can learn from the competitors and incorporate only the relevant ideas to the company’s own skill set without reproducing what the adversary does.
Everyone wants to do business exactly the way somebody else does it.
A fisherman will not go very far if he attempts to catch fish the way pythons, crocodiles or the fish eagle does.
There are some core competencies which are difficult to copy. A fisherman can never be like a fish eagle but he can cannibalise the swiftness of the fish eagle to his own fishing methods without flying like an eagle.
Likewise, a fisherman can copy and modify the slyness, predatory instincts and patience of a crocodile to his advantage.
Most managers fail to learn from their competitors because they are obsessed with hatred for successful adversaries.
Obsession with the “pull them down syndrome or hating for the sake of hating” are the major reasons why executives fail to find out why their competitors are more successful than them.
Fishermen fail to learn from adversaries due to pride. Imagine a person spending a year or longer observing how a crocodile behaves. To most mortals, this fisherman is categorised as insane.

l The writer is a managing consultant at CLC Training International.

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