‘WIN AT ALL COST’ – A DEFECTIVE MENTALITY

During my medical college days I was repeatedly told by my seniors that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. We all made it to a premier medical institution and so the competition was understandably fierce.........but always healthy. We knew we had to excel but we enjoyed each other’s success and we knew that if we remain committed our time will come. And surely it did come. We as a group succeeded, some as physicians, some as surgeons, and still some as radiologists, pathologists, ophthalmologists, psychiatrists, gynaecologists and so on. It was a game played fiercely but fairly and we all won.

But when I look at the society today I find that there is a stark difference. Whether it is politics or sports, education or employment, the competition is still fierce but the means to achieve success has become irrelevant and achieving success at any cost is now the new theme. Winning is absolutely good, but the true essence of sportsmanship is something more than merely getting the most runs on the scoreboard or most wins under one’s belt. Getting good grades is important but not if it requires cheating. Getting a promotion is good but not if you do so at the expense of another person. Having a publication in a prestigious journal is important but not at the cost of plagiarizing. Winning an election is important, but not if you have to demonize the opposition. Winning in Olympics is important, but not with the help of performance enhancing drugs. Winning a test match is important but not if you have to sandpaper the cricket ball.

How many people do you respect that whine their way to victory? How many people do you truly admire who have cut corners or won on some technicality or by some treachery? So if you are of the opinion that ‘winning is the highest value’ then I have news for you; it runs counter to most usual definitions of heroism, decency and good character. Our attitudes and our beliefs affect our behaviour and our conduct and the way we play the game can be dictated by who we are, what our values are and what we intend to become in life. Think about: Atticus Finch is the hero of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ even though he loses. Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero but his true victory, while living, was in the valiant attempt he made against oppression. Ned Stark in Game of Thrones is a hero even though he gets his head chopped off! And then again the legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong, a multiple time world champion once, is nowhere in the record books today!! 

So let’s discuss the ‘how we play’ part. And, yes, this is a discussion because it is not as simple as playing by the rules versus cheating — surprisingly there is a lot of room in-between those lines. When people cheat in any arena, they diminish themselves – they threaten their own self-esteem and their relationships with others by undermining the trust they have in their ability to succeed and in their ability to be true.

How you win matters. And changing the rules simply to ‘win’ loses sight of what is really important – not the win itself but the principled effort you took to gain the win. It’s no secret that at the highest levels of sport, some athletes, trainers, coaches and administrators will side-step the rules and do whatever it takes to win. But in an era where that culture has trickled-down from our television screens to our local sports leagues, and sometimes even in to our own back yards, I think it’s fair time we ask the question: Is the win-at-all-costs mindset ruining our youth? What lessons are we really teaching our children? That cheating to win is okay? That if you’re willing to break the rules, you can get what you want? Are these the values we want to instil in our youth?

The atmosphere in our schools and colleges should be such that kids can develop skills, have fun and learn how to win and lose with humility. A blank canvass on which the next generation can begin to harness the benefits of teamwork, camaraderie, perseverance and other invaluable lessons which help them mature into better versions of themselves. Yet across today’s academic and sporting landscape, you don’t have to look too far to see that those values are being corrupted. Local newspaper headlines are flush with stories of hyper-competitive parenting, performance-enhancing drugs, address and birth certificate manipulation, safety concerns, unethical recruiting practices and a whole host of other indiscretions that continue to chip away at the very essence of what schools are meant to be. It’s as though some of most treasured values, like integrity, respect and the preservation of a level playing field are being discarded, and thrown to the wayside in the name of ambition and hollow victory. The Russian gymnastic team is a perfect example of the ‘win at all cost’ principle gone wrong. A shameful official en-mass doping of its athletes has seen the country out of summer Olympics!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everyone should get a trophy. I believe there is huge value in teaching our youth to win. In fact, it’s that competitive fire and hunger to be the best that ignites passion and drives our society forward. It’s also an inextricable part of what makes many of our local communities so remarkable. But on the youth level, that appetite for victory cannot, and must not, be allowed to trample on the fundamental principles of fair play. The future of academics, business and sport depends on it.

When you set out to win and don't count the costs, you end up paying far more than you expected. We all have rules to follow. Sports have rules, enforced by referees and umpires who shouldn't fear assault for getting a call wrong. Business and politics have rules, too, normally in the form of regulations and laws that need to be followed, whether we agree with them or not. These constraints are all healthy, as they set boundaries and parameters through which leaders, need to set strategy and build a sustainable path to success. Leaders need to respect the constraints of society and then foster their teams to act ethically and legally within these confines. Only then can they succeed. If you abuse your opposition, label them as ‘thieves’ or ‘traitors’, castigate any news of your failures as ‘fake news’ you may surely win elections and become Presidents but you may never win respect!

Even in business winning isn’t everything. Integrity matters. Integrity matters in business because every sane business leader knows you cannot win every time but when your chips are down it is your reputation in the market that keeps you floating and ready to fight and succeed on the next opportune moment. Rather than put in the hard work to improve the product or sharpen the skills to win if businesses stated thinking ‘do whatever it takes’ or use ‘whatever serves the purpose’ to win then they only succeed in ‘parking’ their ethical reasoning somewhere and focus solely on ‘the win.’ This may work in the short term but is surely a disaster in the long run.

Both in business and in politics when people look at conflict as a contest – a zero sum game where someone wins and someone loses – it becomes difficult to work collaboratively to develop solutions that improve outcomes for all. When we try to win at all costs we are essentially taking another approach – one that substitutes competition for collaboration.

Cheating in sports, in business, in politics and in life is the easy way out, and true leadership demands a more difficult, yet more fulfilling, path. Giving in to animalistic fury, flouting conventions and rules and having a myopic view of your goal never makes you win. Rather, it guarantees you will always be a loser.