Outdone

Competition can be healthy.  
Competition compels us to stay sharp.  
Competition keeps us polishing up our A game.  
Competition pushes us to learn - more, faster, efficiently. 
Competition forces us to keep abreast of the current trends and technologies (or it should).  

The problem with competition arises when it is used as the gold standard WITHIN an organization.  When the success of members of an organization is measured against an internal colleague, rather than against progress toward organizational goals, much chicanery ensues.  Backstabbing, rumor-mongering, subversiveness, and downright treachery often become the tools of advancement.  Worse still is when organizations build incentives around internal competition against colleagues.

Our success must always be measured against achieving the goals of our organization (presumably they are worthy and noble ones).   

When the goal is to outdo our colleagues in the same organization we step onto the slippery slope of undone.