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Career Advice: Real Winners Know How To Lose
Career Advice: Real Winners Know How to Lose By Ramon Greenwood
The idea of winning is at the very heart of the American work
ethic. The gospel of our culture tells us winning is not just
the best thing, it is the only thing.
But real winners in the world of work know they can't win them
all, nor should they. They have mastered the art of losing,
strategically, in their career relationships.
If we insist on winning every single point, we set up
unnecessary opposition. Let's face it, nobody likes anyone who
always wins.
Fact is, it is not necessary to win every point. It is a very
rare situation that has only one right answer. One instance
would be in disarming a live bomb. Another would be brain
surgery. Otherwise, several acceptable options usually exist.
Winning is not a zero sum matter. There does not have to be a
loser for every winner. If we win, it is just common sense to
make sure others feel they won, too.
Unless we are absolutely sure we have the only correct answer,
or that our organization will be materially injured if we don't
prevail, it is wise to let associates win a few. The abilities
and morale of the entire team will be improved.
But when common sense and facts say ours is clearly the best, or
only acceptable solution, we should fight for it with tooth and
claw.
No One Wins All The Time
Anyway, we can't win all of the time, even if we try. We cannot
play and we cannot win without taking some risks; and we cannot
take some risks without losing some of the time. We just need to
be sure we win enough of the big ones.
Thomas Edison recorded some 25,000 failures in his attempt to
invent a storage battery. "Those were not failures," he said. "I
learned 24,999 ways not to make a battery."
R. H. Macy failed seven times before his first store caught on.
Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.
Dr. Harry Levenson, noted psychologist and adviser to
management, says that a key characteristic of successful
managers is the willingness to take big risks. "Not crazy risks,
but big risks," he says. "They are willing to endure the
distress of fear and uncertainty until the results are known.
They stick with their decisions even when there are some downers
before their ideas begin to pay off."
If we truly want to build a successful career, and we work in an
organization that demands that we always be right, we are in
trouble. Such an environment will not allow us room to grow and
achieve success. We will either be stifled or we will be in
trouble for trying new ideas and for making the inevitable
mistakes that go with them. We should get out as fast as we can,
unless we want to live in a suffocating bureaucracy.
Healthy, growing organizations expect their people to make some
mistakes. But not too many!
Winners take common sense risks. They are ready to lose some of
the time in order to be a big winner in the end. They know how
to lose strategically.
XXX
Ramon Greenwood is a former Senior Vice President of American
Express. For information about his E-Book on "boss
relationships" and to subscriber to his f*ee semi-monthly
newsletter contact him at ramon@commonsenseatwork.com
About the author:
Ramon Greenwood is a former Senior Vice President of American
Express. For information about his E-Book on "boss
relationships" and to subscriber to his f*ee semi-monthly
newsletter contact him at ramon@commonsenseatwork.com
Ramon Greenwood
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