This
post marks a turning point in our discussion about The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Today is about Habit #4 which means we
are now transitioning from independence to interdependence. From
private victories to public victories.
Independence
must come before interdependence. Stephen Covey writes,
“Interdependence
is a choice only independent people can make.” One of the main
problems is that independent people often look at the world from the
perspective of Win/Lose.
In
this blog I apply effectiveness to the realm of entrepreneurship.
Obviously, entrepreneurship is conducted in a capitalist economy.
And, the fact of the matter is, capitalism is based upon competition.
For
most people, competition necessarily means a Win/Lose mindset. What's more, we are
raised playing games that reinforce the Win/Lose mentality. Sports
being the most prominent example. And, a lot of people get frustrated
with the current trend towards giving trophies to all participants.
So steeped are we in the tradition of winners and losers that we
sometimes have a hard time thinking Win/Win.
Don't
get me wrong, sports were created to have winners and losers. And,
giving trophies to the teams that do not win is pretty silly. That
said, some people approach every aspect of life from a competitive
perspective. In order for a competitive person to win, someone else
is expected to lose.
The
problem is that life in general, and business in particular, are different in rather significant ways. I will not discussion life in general. Let us
only talk about business. Business contains elements of both
competition and cooperation.
As a
matter of fact, several years ago a couple of business professors,
Barry Nalebuff and Adam Brandenburger, teamed up to write a book
about the paradoxical nature of business. The book was titled
Co-opetition and it applied the mathematical model of game
theory to the realities of business.
As the
name of the book suggests, business is part competition and part
cooperation. And, the two parts exist simultaneously. In turn, being
overly competitive can backfire because it keeps us from being able
to cooperate.
Of
course, we want to compete against our "competitors." Ford battles with
Chevy and Coke tried to destroy Pepsi. But, we need to be careful to
not do battle when we should be cooperating.
The most
obvious example is our customers. I think most people understand the
importance of not fighting with your customers. We should be serving
our customers, not battling them. Even as obvious as that should be,
many people use war metaphors and almost view their relationship with
their customers as a military campaign.
Those of
us who are enlightened enough to think Win/Win with our customers
often happily go to battle with our suppliers. Which is most
unfortunate. After all, are we not our suppliers customers?
Covey
says, “There are
three character traits essential to the Win/Win paradigm: integrity,
maturity, and abundance mentality.” I think the preceding
statements is self-explanatory. The real key to
implementing the Win/Win mindset is “No Deal.” Whenever we go
into a negotiation, or agreement, we need the option of choosing no
deal. If we do not believe we are being properly served, we can call
the whole thing off.
This
much might seem straightforward. If we think we are being mistreated,
we always have the option of walking away. Much more difficult is pulling
the plug when it seems our negotiating partner is getting a raw deal.
Covey writes, “It's
twice as tough as Win/Lose. To go for Win/Win, you not only have to
be nice, you have to be courageous. You not only have to be empathic,
you have to be confident.”
The
old saying says that business is war. And, to a point, I agree. As
stated, there exists a profound and permanent tension in the cola
wars. Car companies would sooner shoot themselves in the foot than
give up even one iota of market share. That said, most of business is
actually about cooperation. As a general rule you want to cooperate
with your employees, co-workers, suppliers, and customers.
Being
competitive can be adaptive, it can be the source of much needed
drive and energy. But, being competitive can also be destructive and
backfire. It is your job to decide when to compete and when to
cooperate. As a suggestion, most of the time, you want to be thinking
Win/Win. It is the very essence of interdependence, and it makes both
sides stronger.
