Day 8: Win-Win Situation

Wish 8: Second, Third, and Nth Place Prizes

At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the television coverage of NBC was decidedly pro-American. All events where Americans won were carefully crafted for the viewing audience with heart-wrenching back stories and detailed coverage of victory dances amidst shouts of "in your face" and "eat our dust." Events where Americans did not fare well were downplayed. The message was clear to the American public: winning is everything.

Many years later, the same message is still alive and kicking. The popular reality show The Apprentice emphasizes Donald Trump's winner-take-all attitude. And the American viewing public loves it.

[In contrast, Martha Stewart's Apprentice emphasized on recognition for effort and teamwork, and used a more humane method of letting go. The Canadian TV audience loved it. But since the Americans didn't, it was cancelled.]

In the show, there was an episode where two teams ran fund-raising events. Both teams raised a lot of money for charity. The team that raised more was called "winner", and the team that raised less was called "loser". What message is that sending to fund-raisers?

Even if both teams do well, and one wins by a mere dollar, the losing team languishes in shame. Adding insult to injury, the losing team has to fight it out for survival. Trump determines who's at fault for the loss and fires him or her.

Businesses don't work that way. What would happen to entrepreneurship if after one failure, everyone just quits? Why do we award winners and not 'tryers'. And worse, why do we bash losers? In our life, we will make many mistakes. We learn from them, and we take corrective action.

In the early 1980's, a P&G maintenance manager made a very expensive mistake. He failed to instruct his maintenance staff on how to remove rivets from the heads of large mixing tanks, and they cut off the rivets instead. The tank heads would have to be destroyed to remove them. The plant manager summoned the maintenance manager to his office.

At the doorway, the maintenance manager's head hung low, "You called for me, sir?" He was prepared for a tongue-lashing and his eventual dismissal. The plant manager didn't look up, and said, "Take a seat." The silence was deafening as the plant manager looked up.

He placed a wristwatch in front of the maintenance manager and asked, "Do you know anyone who can fix this watch? It stopped working." White as a sheet, the maintenance manager answered, "uh, yes, sir. I ... I know someone." He was sent on his way to have the watch repaired.

At the doorway, the maintenance manager turned and said, "I ... I thought you were going to fire me."

The plant manager let out a big laugh, "Fire you? We just invested a lot of money on your education. Why would we fire you?"