RESEARCH_FILE
Tournament incentive pressure
When pay, attention or status is allocated by rank rather than absolute output, effort scales with the gap between adjacent ranks — not with how good the performance actually is (Lazear & Rosen, 1981).
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I am my quota attainment”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“My rank is a snapshot of October outcomes, not a verdict on who I am in November.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Pull up your deal history for the last 30 days. Read through three recent wins—what you discovered, what you solved, what the customer needed. Notice that none of that work disappears or changes based on your current rank position. Do not check the leaderboard while you do this.
How it sounds in your head
A rep sitting two spots from the top of the board pushes harder to close that specific gap than a rep comfortably mid-table with an identical absolute revenue target — the tournament, not the target, is doing the driving.