Play to Win

We’ve all seen it.  A football team is ahead by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter only to lose the game.  A basketball team is up by 10 points with three minutes to go but loses.  A golfer is ahead by four strokes going into the final round of a tournament and loses to a player who finishes strong.

 
We see it in sports all the time because the team or individual in front gets too conservative and loses.  It doesn’t make sense to abandon the one thing that got you a lead for a strategy that tries to keep you from losing.

 
It’s the same way in business.  We fight hard to become successful and then we become complacent, thinking that what got us to where we are will keep us there.  Trying to maintain the status quo – and playing it safe – will cause us to fall behind.  Every business needs to constantly innovate and experiment with new ideas and strategies.  Not every new concept will work, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

 
So instead of playing “not to lose,” we need to “play to win.”  Winning involves continuous learning, constant experimentation, and relentless innovation.  It isn’t enough to be good.  We need to strive to be great.  It’s the only way to stay ahead in the game, and win!

 
Here are a few Business & Life Tips to think about….

 
Business Tips:

• Good leaders maintain a sense of urgency with controlled energy. They never get too high or too low. They operate like a thermostat.
• Organizations, boards, and businesses struggle without new blood adding new ideas to the conversation and the strategy.
• You can’t get hung up on what your competitors are doing. Be aware, for sure, but don’t let it get in the way of what you must do.

Life Tips:

• If you know you’re biased, take yourself out of the decision. If you don’t know you’re biased, well, that’s a different problem.
• Wisdom comes from living life skillfully. Experience matters and self-reflection assures introspection.
• Behaviors – even immediate, automatic reactions – can learn to be controlled and modified if we recognize the choices we can make.

Tags: Advice, Business, Business Tips, Complacent, Determination, Developing Leaders, Experiment, Great, Individual, Innovation, Knowledge, Leaders, Leadership, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Problems, Leadership Skills, Learning, Life Tips, Lose, Maintain, Motivation, People, People Leaders, Personal Development, Sports, Status quo, Stay ahead, Strategy, Strive, Strong, Success, Successful, Team, The Mind of a Leader, Winning, Work