Episode 91 The Real Reason You Are Competitive

Foreign. You ever get told that you're too competitive? Like it's something to be ashamed of? Not everything's a competition. Just relax. It's just a game. Well, let me flip that script on you right now, because if you're not competing, you're coasting. And coasting is just drifting with better branding. Monday night, a pickleball game and a single question. Crack something wide open for me, and it just might do the same for you. I'm Chris Hunsaker, and this is the dealership war room Leadership fire. Seven minutes. Built daily, fueled intentionally and delivered relentlessly. And today we're going to talk about the power of competition and what most people get dead wrong about it. After a full day of coaching and strategy sessions with the Hansel Automotive Group in the evening, we all found ourselves in the Hansels backyard on their pickleball court. The dealer, principal, his wife, several GMs, and myself. And I posed this question in the middle of the game. Hey, do you guys think that I'm competitive? Would you say that I'm somewhat competitive? Competitive or very competitive? And instantly, everyone, unanimously, you are very competitive. And we all kind of laughed about it. And One of the GMs goes, Listen, Chris, like, you're basically nice, but, man, when you play sports and stuff, that is the only time I ever hear you trash talk. And so after a little laughing and some trash talking back and forth, I started to ponder that question. So on the way home, I had to call my wife and just debrief this with her. So I'm driving back to the hotel and I call Sherry, and I said, sherry, I asked everybody on the pickleball court today, like, do you think I'm a little bit competitive or competitive or very competitive? And they're all, you're super competitive. And she goes, I know. I'm telling you that all the time. I always tell you, not everything's a competition. And she's right. I do compete a lot, but not in the way most people think. Later on that week, we were having our big celebration for our sales contest that we had during the month of May for the entire dealer group in the organization. And Alicia and I were sitting together. And Alicia Hansel is Justin Hansel's wife. Now. She is one unbelievable competitor herself. She was a D1 water polo player for Berkeley, for Cal Berkeley. She's an unbelievable entrepreneur with multiple businesses and incredible business savvy in sense and a tenacity that I absolutely love. As we were sitting and having kind of discussion, I said, hey, remember on Monday, we were playing pickleball and you asked about being competitive and I said, yeah. She goes, you know, something occurred to me and this is what cracked it open for me. She goes, chris, you know, I'm competitive too, but not in the way people think. I'm not out there to like crush people or beat them down. It's, I want to get better. I have this relentless desire to get better. And I always want to figure out, how do I play five moves ahead when you have that really hard serve. As soon as I started seeing it, all I want to do is to figure, figure out how to return it and get it back. Not because I wanted to crush you, because I wanted to play the game better. And I thought about that for a moment and that's when it hit me, like, cracked open. The competition isn't about beating them. It's about beating yesterday's version of me. It's not about ego, it's about excellence. And it's not about arrogance. It's about agency. That is everything that the great John Wooden tried to teach his teams and produce some of the greatest championship teams ever. So shout out to Alicia Hansel for cracking that open for me in just an amazing way. Now pause here for a moment because I want to talk to the quiet ones. If you are saying to yourself now, I'm not that competitive. Do you replay conversations in your head that you wish would have gone better? Do you have a hard time letting go of a deal that fell apart? Are you still worried about Monday's numbers on Thursdays? Then I have to tell you, you're not uncompetitive, you're just stealth about it. And if you're leading a team, here's a danger. In strong cultures, competition builds each other. In weak cultures, competition breaks each other. One sharp edge lifts and the other cuts. And here's another key insight. If you find yourself obsessed with the scoreboard, you need to watch yourself, because the scoreboard is feedback, not identity. And if you find yourself getting obsessed or overly identified with your numbers, those numbers will eventually break you. This is especially true for high achieving women in our industry. They get labeled as aggressive or too intense simply for having drive. But we need more leaders like Alicia that are focused, unapologetic and unshakable in their desire for growth and improvement. And finally, to the leaders who think you have to choose, do I want to win or do I want connection? I'm here to tell you that is a false choice. Because the best competitors are the most connected, because they pull people forward. Instead of leaving people behind. Why? Because they are competing not against them, but against yesterday's version of themselves. Remember this? The word compete comes from the Latin competere, which means to strive together, right? To work together. That's what we're doing here. That is exactly what the dealership war room is. This is where iron sharpens iron, but only when you show up with your blade ready. So today's war room challenge is very simple. This is how I want you to turn insight into action. I want you to own your competitiveness, step into it, right? Fully, embrace it unapologetically. But we need to redefine who the opponent is. It's not the store across town, it's not the GM across the street, and it's not your salesperson on the floor. It's the version that you were yesterday. So ask yourself this. What behavior, mindset, or skill do you need to improve by just 1%? And then today, go and compete, but with integrity, with clarity, with focus, and with fire. Tomorrow in the dealership war room, we going to dive deeper into what do you do with that 1%? And how specifically do you start building and compounding that? Because I'm here to tell you, you are not too competitive. You are just unfinished and unwilling to settle. And that needs to never change. So go out today, create some leadership, fire, focus, redefine the competition, and then compete and unleash yourself with everything you've got. I will see you tomorrow in the dealership war room. Sam.