When competition kills creativity, perverts outcomes

NO one is a stranger to competition. We encounter it first at home with our siblings, then in school with our friends, and later on with our colleagues when we are deemed old enough to join the "rat race". The stress from it causes health issues and even ruins relationships, but we hardly bat an eyelid, because we've all accepted that competition is necessary on the route to success.

But author Margaret Heffernan begs to differ. "The theory is that competition produces a wide diversity of products and choices," says the 59-year-old, who has been the CEO of at least five different companies as well as an entrepreneur and a writer.

"But the psychology doesn't bear that out at all - it says if you want to kill people's creativity, put them into a contest. Because in a contest you're going to be focused on a narrow goal. So your ability to think broadly in a free way is hugely constricted," she explains.