Focus on winning or not losing?
One of the things that were engrained in me during business school was a SWOT analysis- a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and Threats. Our professional breezed over all of the topics but made sure to emphasize weaknesses, citing if a competitor is able to capitalize on your weakness, you won’t be able to recover from it. I didn’t agree with his point but to his credit, he has always described himself as someone who was risk-averse. He made sure he always “won” by covering all of his bases, and made careful decisions to ensure he never lost.1
I thought it was a weird strategy to focus on not losing versus just on winning. Now, I find merit in doing both depending on the situation. There isn’t a reason to limit ourselves to just one style and cling to it. In true business school fashion, let’s do a SWOT for both styles.
Strengths
Focusing on not losing:
- Controlled risky behavior and actions
- limits losses
- consistency, you’ll know what to expect
Focusing on winning:
- maximal gains
- focused on competitive advantage
- willing to take chances
Weaknesses
Focusing on not losing:
- Minimal gain
- mindset will be fixated on preserving — limiting actions and thought process
Focusing on winning:
- More risks
- Limitless losses
- Ignore weaknesses
Opportunities
Focusing on not losing:
- Won’t be affected as much
- An attractive choice for those with little to gain and lots to lose
- Safe bet during bad times
- Gives you time to recuperate until you shift back to winning
Focusing on winning:
- Focused on capitalizing on what makes you great — gives access to opportunities to things only you can do
- Build a culture in which you or others will take necessary actions to win
Threats
Focusing on not losing:
- Focused on not losing leads to not taking the necessary steps to acquire any advantages that make you competitive
- micromanaging
- groupthink
Focusing on winning:
- Negligence to focus on weaker areas that others can take advantage of
- Harder to hedge and to slow down to access when there’s a crisis
- Groupthink
Please note that these are only a few examples. Each style will have its cons and pros. This shows the limitation of a SWOT analysis. The lack of in-depth analysis won’t give you the details that will tell you which style will work for what you need. For example: if I was coaching a football team, do I want to have a culture that focuses on winning or not losing?2 It’s hard to decide with just a SWOT analysis.
Which begs the question of why we were learning so much about SWOT instead of learning real-life implications of how a business works through the application. Only through failing and going through the process will we adequately learn “business”, not discussing concepts. I believe the best companies often have the best processes in which each transaction with the customer is seamless and stress-free.
Further thoughts and consideration
Similar to a seesaw, we must use find the right timing to teeter between the two styles. There will be times when we need to focus all on winning, and situations where we need to focus on not losing so we don’t lose everything. The objective is to not lose progress on what you made. Sure focusing on strengths can maximize your advantages, but ignoring your weaknesses can lead to your downfall. What you focus on matters because that’s all you’ll see.
We must ask ourselves which style is needed currently and what needs to happen so as to shift us back to the other side. How long we need to stay on one side before transitioning back is another crucial question. Staying on one side of the paradigm will limit your actions, thinking, and decision-making abilities.
Another way to learn which style for the moment is to read about how successful people have done it. You can select a field, company, or person choose their style, and dissect why they did it that way. What were the results? What were the repercussions if they didn’t switch? Did they even need to switch styles to be successful? What were some missed opportunities for not switching? By asking yourself these questions, you can gain a greater understanding of what to do.
My advice is to test it out for a few months and see what happens. Currently, I’m running a “focused on strength” cycle in order to maximize my progress in things I’m interested in or am decent at. I’m at a stage where I can take those risks and focus on mastery in a few areas. Perhaps that will change when I get older, but for now, It’s what I need to do in order to reach my goals. Put in some work and go back to the lab to see what you need to review. You’ll need to refine the process continuously and conform it to your liking and situation.
Before we dismiss the “not focusing on losing” style, there are times when it is crucial for us not to lose. Like when the stock market is crashing or when you’re on vacation and need to maintain weight and muscle mass. Each style is important, but you’ll need to apply it at the right time.
I leave you with this meme:
Until next time,
Scott
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1 His investment portfolio paved the way for his mindset when it comes to losing and winning. Of course, you don’t get the full picture of a company by just doing a SWOT analysis, but for him, it wasn’t about winning. It was about not losing.
2 From personal experience, when coaching a team, you want the team to get used to winning and everything that they do is to win. They must understand what’s it like to succeed and know what it takes to succeed.
