I was watching a roundtable discussion on the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney. One of the commentators said something that struck me as profound, “Well,” he said, “you gotta lose to win.” He went on to explain that any candidate that tells people only what they want to hear is destined for failure. A successful candidate takes a stand, inevitably alienating some, but rallying others to his side because they know what he stands for. In other words, losing to win, something Governor Romney doesn’t seem to be doing (from their analysis).
I’ve turned this phrase over and over in my head since hearing it and suggest the following ways we can lose to win in business and in life:
1. Time
Yes, we all live crazy-busy lives with an endlessly long list of things to do. Losing to win with our time involves pruning that list of everything that doesn’t contribute to bearing fruit. This means making as much use of a “stop doing” list as a “to do” list and investing our limited resources in only those things that are our highest priorities, both personally and professionally.
2. Media
Along with our endlessly long task list, we have an equally expanding list of media options: from TV, to video, to books, to magazines, to apps, to email, to text, to Facebook, to Twitter, to Yelp, to whatever the next big thing will be. And all of this stuff is great, except. Except when we treat them like an all-you-can-eat buffet and ingest every item in aisle. Losing to win means going on a media diet and consuming those few alternatives that allow us to stay informed, eliminating the rest from our lives.
3. Customers
A common problem I address with the business leaders I coach is their trying to be all things to all people. These well-intentioned entrepreneurs do one thing for one kind of customer one day and an entirely different thing for an entirely different kind of customer the next. This inch-deep, mile-wide approach to the marketplace never works. Losing to win here means finding your focus (inch-wide, mile-deep) by knowing exactly who your core customer is and exactly how to meet their needs with the depth and intensity that builds a lifelong stream of business.
4. Pride
There’s a short proverb that’s repeated in the Christian scriptures, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Losing to win spiritually means recognizing him as the author and sustainer of human life. Humility lives with the constant awareness that someone greater and wiser than oneself is at the center of the universe. Simply stated, humility understands its place in the world. From that understanding, then, flows acts of love, service, and generosity.
There’s something I’d like to see in someone running for president from either party. Wouldn’t you?
