After reading this article: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=broussard..., I was inspired to write about how the greatest people compete.

Competition is an event where two or more parties are fighting one another to achieve the same goal. The point of having a singular goal among all parties is key to why competitions occur. This fact is obvious, but some people misunderstand competition for ego-driven hatred and vice-versa. To illustrate this principle, recently 'analysts' have begun to report that Facebook is looking to take over the Internet (thus the world!) by pursuing all kinds of anti-competitive and proprietary solutions. Instead, I think that Facebook no longer competes with other social networks that battle ended a long time ago. They are now focused on how are their uses going to engage with the site longer i.e. how can they be a larger part of the day for all their users. Yet, all the other players they look to Facebook as a source of ideas to execute or excuse themselves for incompetence. 

All great people stop competing against others. They mostly know the battle is over. However, they do compete to make sure that their supporters get what they want. The mentality shifts from reactive market plays to responding to customers' emotions. Sometimes that means making sure others in the marketplace are hurt by their actions, but those are side effects to making sure their customers, teammates, etc. are well-served. In the example of Lebron James, he dominates the beginning of the game to ensure his teammates can succeed the rest of the game. If his teammates succeed he will win the game. Similarly, Facebook is making sure their customers find so much value with their network they spend more time with them. In both cases, their decisions may require certain actions that will detriment their opponents.

You become detrimental to your competitors when you inhibit their ability to attain their goals (which are similar/identical to yours). Sometimes this can happen by acquiring more customers in the target market or it can happen conciously by blocking your competitors from acquiring your customers. It's the latter case that most people are concerned because it limits the market's ability to produce the best products. Yet, only very few companies can directly block their competitors through brawn. Most companies need to be intelligent and create a better experience for their customers than any of their competitors. 

Basically, the point here is that when you compete never focus on how you'll kill your competitor. Only focus on why your customers need to love you more.