Play for Win
If you only ever work to protect what you’ve already have, you miss out on accomplishing what still waiting to be done and seizing the opportunities inherent in change. To quote Helen Keller: “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” So play to win. Not to not lose. In the larger game of life, playing safe is the most dangerous game plan of all.
When you play to win in the bigger game of life you won’t always kick the game-winning goal. Sometimes you will fall short of the mark, and sometimes your risks won’t pay off as you’d hoped. But you have to ask yourself what bigger prize you put at risk when you go through life focused only on protecting what you have, avoiding any risk of failing and chance of losing face?
In what kinds of situations are you most effective? What factors strengthen—or undermine—your motivation? People answer these questions in very different ways, and that’s the challenge at the heart of good management—whether you’re managing your own performance or someone else’s. One-size-fits-all principles don’t work. The strategies that help you excel may not help your colleagues or your direct reports; what works for your boss or your mentor doesn’t always work for you. Personality matters.