Play to win! If you play to not lose, you lose more often!
Mindful Leadership Creed …
Be present.
Tell the truth.
Play to win.
Don’t be attached to the outcome.
The last two posts focused on being present, and on telling the truth as the first half of my the Mindful Leadership Creed. This post focuses on the third part of the creed: Play to win.
Playing to win may seem self-evident, but often people play not to lose. Ever done that? I think most of us have; it takes more courage to play to win than to play not to lose. It could be a small thing such as choosing the color to paint a room (which my wife and I just did).
Do you take a chance with a bold color that could be either stunning or awful, or do you go with the safe bet? We played to win, and we now have a stunning red room!
Some years ago, a colleague and I were asked to give a proposal on an exciting and lucrative project. It wasn’t something we had recent experience with, but we were confident in our knowledge and ability to be successful. My colleague didn’t want to spend much time on a proposal because of our lack of recent experience, but I went all-out. In the end, we came in second to a company that had just done an outstanding job on a similar project.
After we found out we lost this one, my colleague said, “I’m glad I didn’t spend too much time on the proposal.” He was playing not to lose. I said, “I feel really good about my effort; we gave it our best shot.” I was playing to win. Part of playing to win involves not being afraid to lose.
“I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game- winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan, basketball player
When you play to win,
you win more than when you play not to lose.
How do you play?
