How To Turn A Competitive Streak Into A Career Asset

A desire to win at work doesn’t go against the sisterhood. It’s an essential part of ensuring more women rise. Here’s how to strike the balance.

By Natalie Cornish

Leadership

A desire to win at work doesn’t go against the sisterhood. It’s an essential part of ensuring more women rise. Here’s how to strike the balance.

By Natalie Cornish

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Liz Ellis never lets her children win. Competitiveness, she says, is a trait her father instilled in her. This desire to compete without awkwardness or apology helped her rise through the ranks of the legal system (where she practiced as a solicitor for five years) before dominating another court as captain of the Australian netball team.

“[My dad] and I would always have these running races,” she said in a recent podcast. “I would never win, so the day I won was the day he stopped running against me. I knew I had achieved. That was a good lesson to learn.” Ellis was refreshingly unapologetic about her competitive streak from then on –utilising it to give her the edge against her more skilled opponents in the early days. “I loved netball from the moment I stepped on court,” she said. “I was good but I wasn’t great. I was more competitive than I was skillful. I’m a competitive beast.”

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