Just Competition

Just Competition in Job Training, Leader Development, and Business Owner Coaching

Ensure Ethical, Strategic, and Impact-Driven Professional Growth

The industries of job training, leadership development, and business coaching exist to empower individuals and organizations—but competition in this space has become crowded with empty promises, overpriced programs, and misleading success claims.

We apply Just Competition principles to ensure training providers, leadership developers, and business coaches compete with integrity, offer real value, and create lasting impact, rather than just chase profit.

Principle #1. Just Cause – Train, Develop, and Coach to Create Real Capability, Not Just Sell Programs

The true purpose of training and coaching is to:

  • Equip individuals with real, applicable skills that improve performance.
  • Develop leaders who can make strategic, ethical, and high-impact decisions.
  • Help business owners build sustainable, profitable, and well-run companies.

Unjust competition:

  • Sells generic, one-size-fits-all programs without addressing actual needs.
  • Over-promises “life-changing” or “guaranteed” results without real methodology.

Guidance for Training & Coaching Firms:

  • Training should be outcome-based, measured, and tailored to the actual needs of participants.
  • Success should be defined by real-world application, not just course completion.

Principle #2. Right Authority – Earn Credibility Through Expertise, Not Just Branding

A leadership coach or trainer should have real-world experience and proven methods, not just a polished marketing message.

  • Authority should be based on demonstrated expertise, past results, and practical frameworks.
  • Training organizations should continuously evolve and improve their methodologies.

Unjust competition:

  • Relies on self-proclaimed titles (e.g., “LinkedIn® Top Coach”) rather than actual expertise.
  • Uses affiliate schemes, fake testimonials, or vanity metrics to sell courses.

Guidance for Training & Coaching Firms:

  • Authority should be earned through results, case studies, and participant success—not just marketing.
  • Develop original methodologies or frameworks rather than repackage generic knowledge.

Principle #3. Right Intention – Focus on Growth and Transformation, Not Just Profit and Retention

A just training or coaching business exists to serve its clients’ growth, not just to lock them into ongoing programs.

  • Clients should be empowered to succeed independently, not made dependent on coaching.
  • Training programs should teach self-sufficiency and critical thinking, not just repeat cycles of engagement.

Unjust competition:

  • Makes clients feel like they “always need more” instead of equipping them for success.
  • Encourages business owners to constantly seek new coaching rather than apply what they’ve learned.

Guidance for Training & Coaching Firms:

  • Train and coach in a way that creates long-term competence, not short-term dependency.
  • Business owner coaching should build real strategy, not just offer motivational support.

Principle #4. Proportionality of Ends – Charge for Real Value, Not Just Perceived Status

Training, coaching, and leadership development should be priced according to the actual value provided.

  • High-ticket programs should deliver truly unique insights, methodologies, and measurable outcomes.
  • Clients should feel the investment translates into tangible growth.

Unjust competition:

  • Overprices programs without a clear differentiation from free or lower-cost alternatives.
  • Uses high-pressure sales tactics to push expensive coaching “packages.”

Guidance for Training & Coaching Firms:

  • Justify pricing through measurable impact, exclusive expertise, and actionable takeaways.
  • Avoid selling status (“certifications” that hold no real industry weight) over substance.

Principle #5. Last Resort – Prioritize Value Creation Before You Resort to Hard Sales Tactics

A just training and coaching business should:

  • Demonstrate value upfront through case studies, free insights, and content.
  • Prioritize referrals, organic reputation, and client success stories over aggressive marketing.

Unjust competition:

  • Relies on scarcity-based selling (“Only 3 spots left!”) to pressure purchases.
  • Constantly upsells “next level” programs to extract more revenue rather than ensuring mastery.

Guidance for Training & Coaching Firms:

  • Clients should buy because they see the impact, not because they feel pressured.
  • Market positioning should be based on credibility, not artificial urgency.

Principle #6. Reasonable Hope of Success – Only Take on Clients You Can Truly Help

Coaches and trainers should only accept clients when there is a realistic path to success.

  • Assess client readiness before you sell high-ticket coaching or training programs.
  • Ensure leadership development and business coaching aligns with the client’s actual needs.

Unjust competition:

  • Sells premium training to those who aren’t ready or capable to apply it.
  • Takes on business coaching clients without assessing if their business is in a viable stage for consulting.

Guidance for Training & Coaching Firms:

  • Offer prerequisite assessments to ensure clients can apply what they learn.
  • Focus on real transformations rather than vanity metrics.

Principle #7. The Aim of Progress – Build a Stronger Workforce, Not Just a Bigger Business

A just training and coaching firm should leave a legacy of stronger businesses and better leaders.

  • Programs should contribute to economic growth, workplace efficiency, and leadership excellence.
  • Coaches and trainers should create lasting methodologies that outlive their own personal brand.

Unjust competition:

  • Prioritizes personal brand influence over actual client development.
  • Keeps training and insights vague so clients feel they “need” constant coaching.

Guidance for Training & Coaching Firms:

  • The goal should be to elevate the field, not just build a lucrative empire.
  • Clients should walk away better, stronger, and able to succeed independently.

Just Competition as the Future of Training, Leadership Development, and Coaching

The best firms don’t just sell training—they empower leaders, build businesses, and create change.

  • They measure success by client growth, not just revenue.
  • They charge for expertise, not empty status.
  • They compete by being the best, not by manipulating demand.

Just Competition ensures job training, leadership development, and business coaching remain industries of real transformation—not hype and gimmicks.

How to Unlock Purpose in 10 Minutes (or Less)

Free Assessment: Grit

Read more

Why Must Trainers Be Interesting?

Why is it important that trainers be interesting? I’m pretty sure we’ve all suffered, at one time or another, the indignity of having to listen to a boring teacher, professor, lecturer, instructor, or trainer drone on and on about something we probably needed to know—but never learned because the trainer wasn’t interesting.

Improve Your Decision Making

The key to improve your decision-making skills lies in your level of expertise and experience, but not for the reason you’re probably thinking of. Watch as Brett Dillon discusses how to Improve Your Decision Making further.

Listen to Your Students

Richard Feynman has been one of my heroes since my high school days.

He said, “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” As a teacher, I’ve used that statement as a cornerstone of my teaching philosophy.

When my students ask me questions, I listen to them, I paint the question with the colors of their emotions, and I try to understand why they asked this question. Often I find it is caused by my poor explanation of the subject, sometimes it is because I delivered too much too soon, and rarely the question was caused by the student’s failure to pay attention, do their homework, read the text, etc.

I take the opportunity to refine my content on delivery; I use the feedback of their questions to improve my work.

I also listen to my students when they give me feedback. Recently a student gave me feedback on a course I teach—they were brutally honest and, I have to admit, absolutely correct. One of their colleagues attended the same course years ago and had described the experience to them prior to them showing up. Their expectations were not met because the delivered experience had changed. Why did we change the experience? Because we were forced to add three more exams to the course, which changed the nature of the delivery.

I’ve listened to them, however, and I’m working out a plan to restore the wonderful experience their colleague had while meeting the exam requirements. It’s a tough challenge, but I think it can (and should) be done.

I’ve worked for teaching organizations that didn’t listen to the students—it was painful to watch them ignore useful feedback because “we know what we’re doing”.

That attitude strikes at the cornerstone of my teaching philosophy, Feynman’s quote about having answers that can’t be questioned. If we don’t listen to our students, how can we improve our teaching to deliver the learning experience they need?

For more information about how the Dillon Group, Inc. can meet your training needs, visit our education practice.

How to Get Good

How Do You Get Good?


If you want to get good, the first thing to do is to acknowledge that you want to cultivate that specific skill. If you don’t acknowledge that you need to get good at something, you’ll be hindered by unrealistic beliefs. Either you’ll overvalue your skill or ignore deficiencies. This is not good for you if you’re just starting to work on personal development. As an example, I decided that I wanted to be able to write a short essay in cursive. First, I had to recognize that I could only remember about half of the cursive alphabet. I had a deficit in my memory of the alphabet. It’s not enough to say that you want to work on a skill- you have to assess yourself. This is key when it comes to the next step of “Getting Good”.

Once you’ve acknowledged that you need to cultivate a skill, you need to cast your eyes forward to where you want that skill to be. Set a realistic goal for where you want to be- the key point is “realistic”. I wanted to write an essay in cursive with very good penmanship. First I had to improve my memory of the alphabet- I wasn’t going to be able to write an essay on 15th Century Germany in a month! Instead, I gave myself a short-term goal. I decided that I wanted to take all of my notes in cursive within four weeks. This helped me get ready for my primary goal, and helped me feel like I actually improved my skill when I was able to write all my notes in three weeks!

Finally, you have to deliberately work on your skill! As I previously stated, I had a short-term goal to write all my notes in cursive. Before I could do that, I had to work on my memory of the cursive alphabet. I started small- by writing out the alphabet once a day from memory. Then I moved onto short sentences. Then I started to take notes in cursive. After three weeks, I could write every letter from memory and take quick notes on discussions in cursive. I accomplished my short-term goal!

While I haven’t written that essay yet (primary sources aren’t the easiest to translate), I take pride in being able to write in cursive. It’s a skill that not many people my age and younger worry about.

What about you? What skill are you going to Get Good at? Think about the skill you want to develop. Is it rare and valuable? Will it help you add value to others? If you answered yes, set up a plan to develop one of those skills- and contact us for more information on personal development!


How Self-Improvement Adds Value to Others

Read more

Be Like Amundsen: Courage & Improvement

Read more

What’s the Process to Teach Someone Critical Thinking?

Critical Thinking

In a series of experiments conducted at the University of Virginia, researchers discovered most people would rather do anything but sit and think—with many subjects preferring electric shocks instead of thinking. If thinking is such a dreaded exercise, what’s the process to teach someone critical thinking?

I teach adults how to do jobs— also entrepreneurs, managers, and business leaders. The biggest challenge I have? How to deal with the problem produced by the industrialized educational system: it teaches kids what to think, not how to think, so the kids can pass standardized tests.

But this isn’t how the real world works. The real world is volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous (VUCA) and there are no standardized answers to the challenges encountered. That’s where I come in…

We’ve developed a process that teaches adults critical thinking skills while teaching them how to do a job.

We ask them questions related to the job, but sequenced in a way that leads them through a critical thinking process.

Here’s our process:

  1. What is the job? We ask them to “help” us break down the job into the component parts.
  2. What do you know about the job? We ask them questions about the different parts of the job.
  3. How do these parts work together? These questions drive connections between the part tasks so they can see how each job task impacts the others, and the job as a whole.
  4. What can go wrong? This gets them to think about problems that can appear while performing the job—and they have to think about solutions.
  5. How can you improve how the job is done? This drives them to think about ways to improve their workflow, or even innovate the job.

This process of instruction helps us teach people critical thinking skills while teaching them how to do a job.