If you could choose between a role in which you differentiate your self by competing with peers to make the contribution that gains the most recognition versus a role in which you actualize your self by making the greatest possible contribution together with those peers, which would you choose?
I suspect it is the purpose and meaning we derive from the contribution itself that determines which option most of us would choose.
When the purpose of the contribution is compelling, we lose our need for differentiation and find it easy to focus on the work itself. Later, when we look back at the experience, we find that the work itself was meaningful because it produced that contribution.
When the purpose of the contribution is not compelling, we need other motivators, such as competition with (and differentiation from) peers to keep us focused on the work. Later, when we look back on the experience we derive meaning by comparing the recognition (and rewards) we gained to that gained by our peers – rather than from the meaning of the contribution itself.
This is not to say that differentiation from others through competition for recognition by others doesn’t contribute to self-actualization or increase at least some people’s contributions. We know it does. It is natural for us to compare ourselves to our peers.
It’s also not to say that we don’t need rewards and recognition for our contributions. We know we do. It’s how we pay our bills.
Still, extreme emphasis on rewards and recognition through competition with and differentiation from our peers might point to a more fundamental lack of resonant purpose and meaning in the goals we are asked to pursue…
What would an economy based on recognition of meaningful contributions to resonant purposes even look like?
If we could create such an economy in tandem with a rewards scheme that put less emphasis on differentiation, how many of us would choose it? How many organizations (and their shareholders) would welcome and support such an economy? Would it produce more economic value in aggregate?
If the balance of incentives shifted a bit away from emphasis on competition among peers and toward collaborating with them to contribute to more meaningful goals, what impact would this have on the path we choose toward “self” development?
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Agency (主体性) + Purpose (志) + Growth (成長) + Connection (繋がり) + Contribution (貢献) = Meaning (意義)
In the space between you and me awaits all that will ever be.
人と人の間に全てのもと
© Dana Cogan, 2026, all rights reserved.