From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe/keep/stay one step ahead (of somebody)be/keep/stay one step ahead (of somebody)PREPARE a) to be better prepared for something or know more about something than someone else A good teacher is always at least one step ahead of his students. b) to manage not to be caught by someone who is trying to find or catch you → step
Examples from the Corpus
be/keep/stay one step ahead (of somebody)• Money With better management of resources you will be able to stay one step ahead.• We don't want to sell him but we have to keep one step ahead.• The reason Chappy is moving around so much is to keep one step ahead I suppose.• It was a constant struggle to stay one step ahead of thrift regulators in Washington. 