What does it mean that schemas compete for dominance?

Multiple schemas can apply to the same situation and the one that wins shapes your response.

Example: A startup founder hears that a key employee wants to leave. Schema A says 'people leave when they don't feel valued — have a conversation about their growth path.' Schema B says 'retention is a market problem — counter-offer with a raise.' Schema C says 'the best people leave bad systems — ask what's broken.' All three are coherent. All three lead to different actions within the hour. The schema that fires fastest — not the one that's most accurate — determines what the founder actually does.

Try this: Identify a situation where you recently acted on instinct. Write down the schema that drove your response. Now generate two alternative schemas that could have applied to the same situation. For each, write the action it would have produced. Compare. Did the schema that won deserve to win? Or did it just fire first?