After a summer of intense and emotional sporting tournaments, across disciplines demanding speed, strength and precision, I am, once again, astonished by what dedication and commitment can achieve.
From speed climbing to wheelchair tennis, we have borne witness to how humanity can step up to the challenge of competition in a safe, yet driven environment.
In the Olympic and Paralympic swimming pool, athletics field and shooting arena, records were not just set, they were smashed, leaving those still attempting to attain the previous measure of excellence with even more to do as standards pushed higher.
Yet, as these bars were raised to levels that may have seemed impossible when many of these categories were originally created, the community around those achievements seemed genuinely thrilled to see it.
In the Olympic men’s pole vault, for example, Swedish star athlete Armand Duplantis broke his own previous games and world record by achieving a height of 6.25m, on his third attempt, having already secured the gold medal at 6.10m.
While a rapt crowd watched in gleeful expectation, Duplantis’s biggest cheerleader was the guy he’d beaten into second place – by an insane 30cm – American Sam Kendricks.
It would have been easy for Kendricks to have slunk back to the shower room, wailing that he was never going to beat Duplantis, but he stuck around to marvel at and be part of the show of greatness.
Over the summer, across many events and tournaments, we saw how competition not only drives excellence but also filters through a community, encouraging all participants to improve.
Of course, competition is not limited to the sports field, events arena or equipment-strewn triathlon course.
It comes in all elements of our professional and personal lives – and challenges us when we least expect it.
Across all divisions of marketing and communication, companies are in competition with peers for brand recognition, customer acquisition/retention and column inches. Unlike in many areas of financial services, where a rising tide lifts (or sinks) all ships, our disciplines rely heavily on doing better than the others.
Faced with this competition, we have two options: accept it and try our best or decline and take a pass. Similarly, we can choose to either celebrate or sulk when someone else genuinely triumphs.
With slimmed down budgets and reduced resources, putting together multi-faceted campaigns might be daunting, but drawing on what is available and sizing up to the task our whole community faces can
be rewarding.
When we all strive to achieve greatness, the whole community benefits. The sporting world demonstrates how a shared appreciation of excellence spurs us all on to do better and ignites a spirit of healthy competition.
It was with this in mind, that we launched the Financial Promoter Awards, which take place in November, to recognise and share excellence in our community. With the entries now in, it has been hugely encouraging to see not only the range of entries, but also the pride with which they were collated and submitted.
I take issue with the “winning isn’t important” mantra, as the giving out of medals suggests otherwise, but the “it’s the taking part that counts” part certainly rings true.
I believe that being part of something that promotes excellence inspires us all and makes an even higher bar something we can all aim for. So, join us on November 7, and we can all push towards and celebrate our achievements together.
Elizabeth Pfeuti is the publishing director of Financial Promoter and director of Rhotic Media