"Winning and Losing In America"

Some years ago I remember reading in James Michener's Sports in America that the obsession about winning in sports has to do with people living vicariously by being fans (through their fanaticism) of certain individuals and teams. Because life in our country of capitalism is most often measured by how much you earn and gather in terms of goods, most Americans do not consider themselves "winners." Although the pursuit of excellence may said to be the primary goal for many individuals and companies, it is very hard for them to maintain their leadership principles in the face of the overwhelming majority of people in pursuit of success measured in the relentless pursuit of success in the eyes of the majority in our country. Ultimately, though, good leadership is not based so much on "winning" as much as on getting the most out of our ability, making the greatest effort to perform well, and doing well compared to others.

This compulsion to measure success as winning recently came to the fore following the first series loss of the team that had the best regular season record in the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks. After the final game loss in the series, Bucks super-star Giannis Antetokounmpo was asked if he considered the Bucks season a "failure." Giannis gave this thoughtful response. "Do you get a promotion every year, in your job? No, right? So every year your work is a failure? Yes or no. No? Every year you work, you work towards something, towards a goal, which is to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your family, provide a house for them, or take care of your parents. You work towards a goal — it's not a failure, it's steps to success." Then he added, "There's no failure in sports. There's good days, bad days. Some days you are able to be successful, some days you're not....That's what sports is about. You don't always win....We're going to come back next year and try to be better."

One wonders whether this perspective is one made because this man experienced so much hardship earlier in life. Giannis grew up on the streets of Greece selling trinkets for his mother to survive, skipping meals so that his brothers could eat, and sharing basketball shoes with one of his brothers. He knows by experience that in the scope of the world, having enough to eat and drink and having a decent job is a measure of success. Yet now he has achieved a measure of success in a country that often does not consider providing for those who are less fortunate is part of the responsibility we have toward other human beings. Perhaps it takes an "outsider" view to remind us that good leadership in the capitalistic world of America does not mean that our team or company or self will be considered number one at the end of the day. Although this basketball player knows little about what it means to lead a company or even to be a middle manager hoping for a promotion, he is able to remind us all that the measure of success is not simply putting everyone of us behind us because we are the fittest and have no responsibility for those we have dropped on the basketball court or the courtroom below.

If we in fact need those we follow to win at all costs maybe we ought to take a look inside at ourselves and who we are. Ultimately, we will want to measure ourselves not by winning in competition, surviving while others fall away. Rather, our "success" will be measured by collaboration and cooperation: how well we have served our family, our organization, our commmunity, and the greater good. If we take care of that, although sometimes we will "win" and sometimes we will "lose," we will always be "winners."