I know you are but what am I?

Daniel Plainview had a competition in him, but more importantly he had the ability to "drink your milkshake" without letting you know how or even that he'd done it. Sure he was despicable, but at least he trumped you mightily with clever, clear ruthlessness. From my perspective, too many "competitions" these days are just petty pissing matches in which one party lamely tries to match another's actions just to show that they can keep up. This creates nothing. It is the opposite of boldness. It just gums up the works with fruitless parroting and desperate ego-needs. Nothing is achieved or won or moved forward or sacrificed when all you can do is borrow equity from your colleagues.

(Paranormal clown painting info here, if you must)